Regent's Park
by goshdarnypooh
Summary: Betrayed by her friend and facing an uncertain future, Bella acts on impulse and finds herself in London were she meets Edward, an aspiring artist with an inexplicable past. Rated M for language and adult content in later chapters AU/AH
1. Prologue

Prologue - Election Night

"Is this not the most important thing in our lives, Bella?"

"Sorry, can you repeat that," my mind was a blur and I did not hear her over all of my thoughts. The last year had been a blur, but tonight in particular was surreal.

"I said, isn't this the most important thing in our lives?" Stacy, the local political party chair said to me with a smile that showed more teeth then I thought was physically imaginable.

"It sure is something," I couldn't confirm her question. Sure, it was important, _but the most important_? My hesitation in answering went unnoticed and would not ruin this night for her, for everyone I worked with. The last month in Burlington, Iowa confronted me in a daze right at that moment. A tremor came from my pocket, my cell phone on vibrate because I could no longer hear the ring over the crowd that gathered in our run-down local campaign office.

"I got to get this call. It's kind of loud in here, I'm going to run outside to take this is anyone needs me." Stacy just nodded and turned around to celebrate with another of the local activists while I found my way to the only exit in the building – certainly a fire hazard but the fire chief was on the phones in my campaign office calling voters so I assumed the violation had been overlooked. Of course I still cringed, my father the police chief in my hometown back in Washington would be shaking his head at the state of this building that in all right should be condemned.

All around me volunteers were on the phones of all makes and models that the local party collected over the last several decades. I even spotted an old rotary phone, only the second time I had seen one person, the first time being a visit to Grandpa Swan's when I was a toddler. Everyone was still trying to turn out voters even though the polls were going to close in 15 minutes. Even though I was in charge of this office, far be it from me to tell them to stop, there was no need to dampen their enthusiasm.

"Hi Renee,"

"Hi sweetie pie, how was your birthday yesterday?" my Mom had concern in her voice.

"It was great Renee, a couple of my volunteers brought me a cake at the end of the day, it was really sweet of them." What I wanted to tell her was that my birthday was exceptionally crappy, but that was expected. The day before an election is crazy. Volunteers turn out from the woodworks without warning and expect to be helpful.

A couple of my volunteers were on the side of the building taking a smoke break, and I politely smiled at them and waved as I walked past and went behind the decrepit building I had spent all my waking hours during the last month. I never smoked a cigarette in my life, but right now I wanted to rip one from their hands and take a long drag.

"They even made sloppy joes for me," I tried adding with content. The locals seemed obsessed with sloppy joes around this area. There were three crock-pots full of the grotesque meat creation in the office right now. I blamed this concoction for the fifteen pounds I had gained during the campaign. And the lack of running, my mind could not clear itself without a good run. Sure, I tripped every time I went for a jog, but it kept my mind numb for the most part. Never being able to leave the building meant that I was continually at the mercy of my volunteers to bring me some kind of nourishment, however unhealthy it was. I would never vocalize my complaints.

"Did they bombard you with presents?"

"No, thank goodness. Most folks around here do not have a lot to begin with and the last thing I want is them spending their money on me."

"Well, at least folks thought about you. I wish you were here sweetie, I don't understand a thing on the news about this election. I need you to decipher everything for me."

"I wish I was home too, Renee. At least Ed and Liz are so nice here. Its like having an extended family." Ed and Liz were the elderly couple who were letting me stay at their home while I helped out at this campaign office. Both retired, they were really too kind to me, "Hey Renee, I have to get back in there. Polls are almost closed and I need to round everyone up and send some folks over to the county office to watch the absentee ballots being counted."

There was a brief pause, "Alright, I guess you have work to do. I just," Another pause, "I just miss you Bella."

"I miss you too. I'll come to visit you and Phil in Florida soon though. It will be nice to be in the heat a bit after the election is finished,"

"Good luck sweetie, and now that I found my cell phone again, feel free to call me whenever you want."

"Goodbye Renee, I love you too." I tried to keep some enthusiasm in my voice. My voice can be a good adversary in lying, especially during this conversation were it held firm and never wavered. I hung up the phone and began to clench my fists and hold back tears. My attempts to hold back my emotions failed; in fact it made things worse as I started to hyperventilate slightly.

Stranded in the heartland of American running a field office during one of the most dramatic elections of the past two decades should be invigorating. Field work was not my forte, I was a speech writer who crafted the message of the campaigns and candidates. The voice behind the scenes that could crawl back into her office and stay out of the limelight.

A couple weeks before when the head of field office in the largest voting block in the state suddenly disappeared for a week to pop up in Nevada sending a brief text message to the main office in Des Moines: knocked up and eloped – later peeps; I was quickly reassigned to occupy her critical position. The major qualifications for the "promotion," be single and expendable. Single, because attachments were the kiss of death in politics, and expendable as in able to send you out there and never really care if you returned from the front lines. Tonight I was front heading this operation and loathing every minute of it.

I could hear the muffled sound of cheers from inside the campaign headquarters. The polls were closed and now it was time to see the results of years of preparation, fundraising, canvassing, phoning, more fundraising, and finally voting. This was the night that we had worked for and put our entire hearts and souls into.

There was no doubt that everyone I worked with on the campaign sacrificed to arrive at this moment, we spent hours in the office together and often times never saw the light of day. Early returns showed that we were not only going to win, our margins were so large that we were going to crush our opponents. We let go of social time, and extra activities, the sacrifice considered inconsequential by our bosses. Some strained their relationships with loved ones and friends, some left them behind to travel across the country and campaign. Folks left behind good paying jobs for shitty ones with little pay. And I was simply alone.

Stacy said I should get a cat if I was lonely. Might as well get two while I'm at it. Cat lady sounded good right about now.

I sat outside and cried in the moonlight. _I am going to be a freaking cat lady. _After a few minutes, I wiped my tears on my sleeves, stood up and took in a deep breath of the crisp November air. My life could have gone in a much different direction, but tonight was not the night to think about that. Tonight was election night. One more deep breath after I passed a new set of smokers assembled outside the office. I thought of the only thing that could bring a smile to my face and I walked back inside displaying the largest grin imaginable and joined my cheering volunteers.

I pictured his face.


	2. Blindness

**a/n: I do not own the characters, I do however like to take them out and play every once and a while**

**comments are always appreciated  
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**Blindesss**

_**Two Years Earlier**_

I was at the sink diligently cleaning the crevices between my teeth. All of the sinks around me were filled with fellow dorm mates.

"How is the baking going, Bella?" Angela asked me between spit and swallow.

"If I ever see another cookie in my life…" I could not even finish the statement. I was persuaded to run for a good friend for student body vice president. The theme of our campaign was to be "You Can Never Have to Much of a Good Thing." Over the course of the last two weeks I locked myself into our decrepit community kitchen and baked over six hundred chocolate chip cookies from scratch. If I ever saw another chocolate chip I feared someone would find me in a corner rocking back and forth slowly, "I am just glad that the voting starts in a couple of weeks."

"I am sure you are going to do great," Sarah's comment was so sincere it made me feel instantly a little more at ease. During the last week of sleepless nights, studying and work, this group of ladies was my rock and kept my mental energy at bay.

"Thanks, I'll just be glad when this is all over." The conversation turned to Angela's senior music recital that was coming up and I went back to diligently cleaning out my teeth. My glasses started to slip from the tip of my nose and I tried to scrunch my face in an ill-fated attempt to keep them from falling off my face. When that failed, I pushed my glasses up with my hand and noticed that the metal frame was loose by my nose. My father, Charlie, joked that our eyes are so poor that we needed contacts to see to our glasses. How awful it would be if my glasses broke right now being so unequivocally blind, never having contacts, and too poor on my college student budget to own a backup pair of glasses.

I spit my toothpaste out, and what must have been an exurbanite force, my glasses flung from my face and landed in the foamy white spit. In two pieces. I leaned my head back and let out a groan.

"What's the matter," Kristi had heard me from the end of the sink line. Whimpering a little I replied,

"My glasses." I pulled the two halves out of the toothpaste spit and rinsed them in the sink. The girls gave me a look of pity as I began shuffling down the hall carefully back to my room blindly. At my desk I tried to patch them up with some grace and scotch tape. Realizing that was futile, the packing tape came out and made a wretched mess of the delicate frames. As I finished the horrid patch job, I heard a quiet knock at my door that was still slightly a jar.

"Hey Bella," I recognized the voice as Jessica, because I certainly could not see who it was, "You look good without your glasses. You should go like that more often."

"Thanks, but that would mean I would be completely blind."

"Oh, well, you still look good." Jessica looked at me and sighed. The look on her face reminded me that she would have chosen to look good over being blind any day. "Anyways, have you seen Jacob at all lately? I have two classes with him and I haven't seen him in over a week."

"No, I haven't seen him. Just curious, why didn't you just go knock on his door if you were curious where he was at, his room is just upstairs." Jessica looked at me a little sheepishly before responding,

"I thought he might be hanging out with you."

"Why would he hang out with me?"

"Well…you know."

"No, I don't." I was serious, we were both involved in student government but we did not spend an extended time with each other then the occasional parking appeals committee. Jessica looked at me blankly and sputtered out.

"I just assumed because he talks about you all the time that you were close."

I cocked my head slightly to this unexpected news, "I'll go up to his room and check on him."

"Alright, let me know. I'm getting worried about him," Through my blurred vision, it appeared that Jessica walked out and back toward her room. It was late, but the fact that even Jessica was showing concern made me want to check in on Jacob.

There were only a few things that I knew about Jacob Black. The first was that he was exceptionally bright, yet for some unknown reason had chosen to go to a mid-level university. From our brief time in student government I ascertained that he was extremely handsome with his lovely tanned skin and thick black hair. Rumor amongst the girls was his that his abs were not to shabby either.

The second was that his father and my father were good friends. When we were much younger we would play and I have a very vague memory of making mud pies, but Renee and I moved away right after the divorce and lived in Phoenix. I never saw him again until I moved back to Forks, Washington my junior year of high school. We would hang out every once in a while when our dads would go fishing, but he went to school on the Quileute reservation and I suffered through Forks High. Nowadays he was much more interested in getting a quick lay then hanging out with his old friend.

And the third was that he enjoyed drinking to the point of pure physical annihilation with his roommates who mainly came with him from the reservation to college, but in spite of this he was so charming that his friends' list ran long and strong.

Jacob's dorm room was on the top floor of my building. I rarely ventured to the fourth floor. The all male smell lingered in the hall mixed with pizza in boxes stacked on top of the community garbage cans, and empty bottles hanging outside of the recycling shoot. It certainly stood in stark contrast to the early-to-bed wing I enjoyed.

Jacob's door was slightly ajar as I approached and a soft light emptied out into the hallway. Much to my surprise the light sounds of Puccini drifted in the air. I tapped lightly on his door and waited for an answer, but all I received was a low groan. Pushing it slightly, I whispered, "Jacob, are you in here. Are you decent?"

"Bells! So good to hear from you," the enthusiasm in his voice was a little overbearing. As I peered in I could see Jacob sprawled out on the top of his loft, a funny grin on his face, glassy eyes, and a scruffy beard that had about a weeks worth of growth.

"Jessica said that you weren't in class all week. Are you feeling alright?"

"I've been a little sleepy."

"You sound a little loopy Jacob, are you sure you are all right?"

"Feel great, can you pass me that cereal on the desk down there, I'm kind of hungry."

I reach for the bowl and immediately stepped back from the stench, "Jake buddy, there is mold floating around in this milk, how long has this thing been sitting here?"

"Just put it there before I took a ten minute nappy, all is good."

"No Jake, all is not good," his pupils expanded and contracted, "When is the last time you got out of your bed?"

"I just laid down after my English class for a little sleepie-time," Jacob yawned and rubbed his eyes sounding more like a three year old then a college student. He threw up his covers from his lofted bed and then pulled them back down rather quickly, "Ooah, little Jakie is out, Bells can you hand me my boxers?" Great, not only did he sound like he was high on some illegal substance, but he slept naked too. On the bright side, I could not see a darn thing because my glasses were still in lens wear purgatory waiting for a duck tape savior to come along and fix them.

"When is your English class Jacob?"

"Two to three."

"Which day?"

"The awful day, the days I have classes," he slurred.

"Jacob, listen very closely," I kept my tone stern in hopes of making him concentrate, "Which day of the week do you have your English class?" I drew out each word in an effort to make his brain focus.

"I – have – it – on – Moooooonddddays!" He thought I was playing with him, he sang his damn response. Karaoke Jacob was making my generally patient self start to loose its grip.

"Damn it Jacob, its Thursday! You've been in bed for over three days. Something is wrong with you," I knelt very close to the ground and grimaced when my nose came within inches of a pair of sponge bob boxers tossing them up to him, "Jacob, put these on and then come down to get some more clothes, we need to get you checked out by a doctor."

When he did not answer, I stepped closer with my blurred vision and looked up to find him slumped back in his bed breathing shallowly. He needed to be at the hospital, but there was no way I was going to be able to lift his massive body from the top of his loft downstairs. I could barely carry my own weight, and definitely could not lift freaking wolf-man and all his dead weight from the bed and bring him down four flights of stairs.

I grabbed the phone in his room that was buried under a pile of pizza boxes and called our Residence Hall Director, Mr. Banner, and asked for back-up. He came rushing up the stairs with two massive boys from down the hall in tow.

"Quil, Embry, you get his upper body, I'll grab his legs and get him down from the loft," Mr. Banner looked serious and then looked at me,

"Bella, grab the doors for us. My car is in the pull up drive by the front door. The hospital is only a couple blocks away. I'm making an executive decision and driving him because if we wait for the ambulance they will take thirty minutes before they get here even though they are only 200 yards away,"

"Mr. Banner, Jake is burning up!" Quil said moving his hand around Jacob's forehead.

"Bella, call ahead to the hospital, let them know we are coming. I brought Jake's emergency contact card, call them and let them know what hospital we are taking him too," Mr. Banner handed me the card and a cell phone from his jean pocket and grabbed Jacob's legs and together the boys lifted him from the room.

I fumbled with the card trying to read the blurry text as I punched in the number to Billy Black, attempting to follow behind the boys without running into them. I am already uncoordinated, but to be freaking blind as a bat was going to cause problems. After dialing the wrong number twice, I finally heard a semi-familiar voice,

"This is Billy."

"Umm, hi Billy, this is Bella Swan."

"Hi Bella! How are you doing, don't usually talk to you—_wait_, is there something wrong with Charlie?" Concern laced his voice.

"No, Charlie is fine. There – well, there is a problem with Jacob."

"What's wrong Bella!" panic settled in.

"We aren't sure, I found him in his dorm room with a fever and acting slightly strange, and now the Hall Director and some of the guys down the hall are taking him to University of Washington Medical Center,"

"Alright, Bells, it is going to take me a couple hours to get there from the Res, I can ask Sue to come and pick me up and drive. No wait, I'll ask Seth, he drives faster. Can you watch out for Jake while I get there?"

"Absolutely Billy, I'll stay right with him," I gave Billy the address as I jumped into the front seat of Mr. Banner's car while Quil and Embry stayed in the back with a very lucid Jacob.

We pulled up to the emergency room doors and a nurse was waiting with a wheelchair that the boys hoisted Jacob into. Mr. Banner grabbed the emergency card and ran to the check-in station to fill out some forms while Jacob was rolled into the back. Quil, Embry, and I were directed to a waiting room off to the side.

"Nice jammies Bella," Quil chuckled. It was then that I realized I was still wearing my blue fleece pajamas with a little lamb pattern and phrase "Falling to Sheep" in large letters on the front. I could feel my cheeks turning a nice shade of pink. My only solace was that I did not have on the cute little lion slippers Angela gave to me as a Christmas present last year that roared when you bonked them on the head.

I fell asleep in the chair and woke when I heard a familiar voice.

"How is that chair treating you Bells?" I opened my eyes confused why everything was still so blurry when I remembered the events from the last several hours.

"Hi Billy, have you seen Jacob yet?"

"Just talked with the doctor and said he has pneumonia, which could have become even worse if you had not found him. They have him on antibiotics right now and he is resting, he should be alright,"

"That is good to hear,"

"Bells," I could tell from the sound of his voice that he was leaning in closer to me, "Thank you."

"I didn't do anything Billy. The guys carried him out of the place, they are the ones to thank," Billy chuckled at me.

"Before Jacob started to fall back to sleep from the meds they put him on he mumbled something about everyone coming by to see him, but no one checking to see if he was alright. All his so called 'friends' just chalked it up to him being drunk, but you actually took care of him."

"Billy, I –"

"No Bells, I know he is no saint, but he is my only son. He would do better if he had you as a closer friend to help keep him out of trouble," Billy put on his patented grin that I could see even through my blurred vision, "He wants to thank you, but you better go in now because he is probably going to fall asleep again shortly,"

Billy wheeled himself down the hall and into an elevator. It looked like Jacob moved from the ER to a more private room upstairs now that everything was under control.

"Visiting hours is over, only family can visit right now," A nurse came from behind and looked at me.

"Oh, I—"my mumbled apology was cut off.

"This is my daughter; she wants to see her brother. Can't you see the family resemblance," Billy cocked his head to the side and smiled. Billy's dark skin and Quileute heritage shown through each of his features contrasting heavily against my pale skin and obvious European decent. The nurse looked in confusion obviously trying to find an ounce of resemblance when she just shook her head and waved me through.

I opened the door to Jacob's room and shuffled over to his bed in an attempt to not stumble over any objects on the groun—

"Umph!"

"Are you okay Bells!" I looked up and could tell a solid massive form was sitting up on a bed.

"I'm alright Jacob, please lay back down, you need to be resting right now," As I lifted myself from the ground I felt the offending object that caused me to go flying and lye in a rather compromising spread eagle position– a corner of the sheets spilled out from the bed and was nesting on the floor.

"Bells, you really need to take better care of yourself."

"I could say the same for you, why didn't you ask someone to take you to the hospital?" Jacob grinned sheepishly before answering.

"Honestly, at first I thought I was just having a nasty hang over and then I started having hallucinations, after that everything just started to blur in and out. I vaguely remember a few people stopping by to say 'hi' but everyone leaving pretty quickly once they saw I was out of it."

"Well, if it makes you feel a little better, Jessica is actually the one that told me she thought something was up since you didn't show up to class, so not everyone ignored you."

"I guess it should make me feel better, but since I am her Biology lab partner and I do all of the work, if I don't show up she fails the class. Let's just say that I am her homework sugar daddy."

"Come on, she likes you more than that,"

"You're right, we made out a couple times, but I mean, who hasn't made out with Jessica?" I could tell as soon as he spoke his body tightened, almost like he regretted what he said, "Umm--anyways, yeah, the meds they gave me are starting to kick in and I'm not going to be conscious for long. So, I just wanted to thank you for making sure I was taken care of. Maybe I can thank you sometime and take you out to dinner…"

"That's alright Jacob, I don't have much time to go out for dinner right now anyways. Between the student government election and classes I am swamped. Think of it as just a thank you all the times you would bate my hook when we went fishing with Billy and Charlie."

"Hmm, you never liked how the squirmed. We had fun when we were younger, wonder why we never hang out now. You know, I liked it when you would wear your pig tails," Jacob started slurring his word and talking a little softer, the pain meds were definitely kicking in, "they were fun to pull,"

"I think it's time you rest Jacob."

"Okey-dokey Bells, Bella-boo, Bellareno, _Bella-Lella-Ding-Dong_…"

"Bye Jacob," I chucked as I made my way to the door.

"By the way Bells," Jacob mumbled as he drifted off to sleep, "I really like you without your glasses. You have really pretty eyes."

***************

Seth was staying with Billy at the hospital and graciously offered to drive me the 200 yards back to my dorm. Since my new blindness made the trek even more dangerous than my usually clumsy self could handle, I was eternally grateful.

When I woke the next morning I began looking for an optometrist near the campus and scheduled an appointment for later in the afternoon. I tried to walk to class but realized not only would I not be able to see anything including what I was writing for notes, but I started to get a headache from my eyes attempting to focus everything. Doubling back to my dorm room the urge to just lie down and take a nap overtook me. Sleeping part of the night at the hospital really did a toll on my body, and now I barely make it to my bed before I set my alarm and fell back asleep.

_Running down an alley, footsteps pacing behind me. Darkness everywhere and only the muffled sounds of a wayward cab reach my ears. I stop only briefly to turn around and see a man holding something in his hand reflecting the faint light from the moon above – the only light around me. His eyes glinted with rage while his body lay masked in an overcoat the brushed over the cobble stone road._

_I am close and can see his pupils narrow as his face pulls into a narrow grin, "What do we have here? Don't belong in these streets do you," it was not a question, but a threat filled with malice. The shinny object in his hand comes out and is suddenly visible. A knife with hints of rust on the blade rolls around his hand held with the skill of a surgeon. _

_Quickly I turn to run, but am thrown back around to face this manic man. He grabs my arms and pushes me against the brick wall of the alley while all the breath leaves my body. _

"_Feisty one," he sneers. Knowing there is little time, I take my knee and bring it to his groin with all of the force I can muster. Just enough force to distract him while he drops my hands and winces. I take only a step to sprint to the end of the alley before I feel my hair being pulled backwards and my scalp suddenly on fire._

_I am brought back to his face while his vial breath pounds onto my face, "Bitch," before I can react he takes his knife and stabs into my stomach,_

"_Stop!" all I can mutter before the pain overtakes me, _

"_Mine!" he retaliates and stabs repeatedly, "Mine, mine, mine, mine…"_

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

"What the h—"

"Bella, wake up!"

"I'm up, I'm up," my groggy voice must not have sounded very convincing because Angela started bouncing on my bed eliciting a rather high pitched scream from me.

"Dang what kind of dream had you screaming your head off?"

"I'd rather not think about it, it was messed up. Hey, what time is it Angela?"

"It's six o'clock. I could hear your alarm going off all the way down the hall," Sure enough, I must have been dead on my feet to sleep through that thing going off every fifteen minutes for the last three hours.

"Crap, I slept through my eye doctor appointment," I quickly grabbed my cell phone and dialed the optometrists' office catching the receptionist right before she headed out for the day. Unfortunately the next open appointment was not for another three days. That meant three more days of blind-as-a-bat Bella.

I tried going to class and just listening in the lectures, but felt like an idiot every time a professor tried to call on me in class. Most did not know their students name, heck I would not either if I was teaching in a packed 200 student lecture hall, but they would just stand behind their dais and point to unsuspecting students. Of course they could point at me all they wanted to and there was no way I could tell, a few times someone would nudge me and I would answer while receiving quite a few snickers from the rest of the class. For someone who despises being the center of attention I was sure it would not be long before the seat I sat in went all Venus Fly trap on me and sucked me up before displaying my half digested body to the rest of the student body.

To make matters worse, I was suppose to help with the student government election by putting up posters, but after almost mistaking my finger with a tack board was quickly pulled off of that duty. Baking was also put on hold because I burned a batch of cookies after mistaking the temperature on the oven at 275 degrees when it was really 475 degrees. My entire wing of the dorm smelt like freaking Martha Stewart's kitchen gone Rambo with sugary stink bombs and smoke filtering into the halls.

I was at my wits end when my appointment finally arrived. Of course there was the small problem of actually making it to the office. Angela had to work, and it was only a couple of blocks away, so it seemed silly to ask anyone to drive me there. The only caveat being that I would have to cross business 51 during my two block travels.

Business 51 is an old route that city planners tried to desperately to reroute traffic from. All of their attempts have so far failed, and it is most defiantly the busiest fairway within a mile of the campus. I have seen grown men cry after being sideswiped by vehicles while using appropriate cross walks. There is no rule of the road on 51, it is every man, woman, and child for him or herself. In my estimation, I had risen to the highest level of insanity to even attempt a crossing of the highway without my glasses to get to the eye doctor. But I could not take not being able to see clearly for a second longer. As I stepped up to the curb, I saw cars fly whiz past, but there was no way around it. There was only one eye doctor within walking distance of the campus, and I could not afford another day without sight.

Making the sign of the cross, I looked for blobs heading my direction, and when it seemed peaceful I darted to the medium. Then I started to get cocky, heck I could navigate this thing with my eyes closed, as I stepped way from the curb once again I heard loud semi-truck blast its horn, and even before I had time to react, I warm arm pulled me back.

"Bells, I thought I told you to look after yourself better."

"Jacob! Oh my goodness, thank you! I really did not want to become road kill today," Jacob chuckled and then swung me around to ride piggyback the rest of the way across 51.

"Well, I figured you were jumping off a curb right now, but I had to stop this before the danger magnet in you started to do even crazier things, like jumping off a cliff or something."

"Ha ha, very funny. But seriously, Jacob, are you sure you are feeling okay, you were just in the hospital a few days ago?"

"Released with a clean bill of health. Was going to celebrate with a pizza from Toppers over there when I saw a gorgeous girl with chocolate brown eyes almost get smacked in the rear by a Ford Pinto," Jacob set me down on the other sidewalk, "Yea, I bet you didn't even see that one almost clip you. Thankfully I jumped over her before the Mac Daddy squashed you like a Looney Tunes cartoon."

The entire rest of the walk to the optometrists' office Jacob kept my hand in his palm. I felt the calluses on his hand and remembered how he loved tinkering around with cars. When we were in high school and Charlie would visit Billy, I would sometimes escape out to the garage where Jacob would be working on his Rabbit, or some other monstrosity that his friends would drag over to get tuned up. I even think that Charlie brought in his cruiser once and had some modifications done to make the engine top out its speed. Charlie thought he won the freaking lottery.

I turned toward Jacob and looked up hoping that I staring in the right direction, "Thanks again, I guess we are even now. I've got to go, my appointment is in a few minutes."

"Hey, Bella, I know you said you were too busy to go out to eat with school work. But what if I helped you with the prep for the debate for the election since I know all of the issues from student government meetings. I know you hate talking in front of crowds, but maybe if I can help you get prepared you won't be so nervous?" I could sense the hesitation in his voice even if I could not clearly distinguish his facial features.

"You know, that sounds like a good idea Jacob, but are you sure you have free time? I mean, you do have school and everything."

Jacob belted out a deep laugh, "Bells, since when do I study? Seriously, I am a natural slacker, free time is my middle name. Jacob Free-Tastic Time Black. Do you have some free time tomorrow night around seven-ish?"

I could not help but grin at his suggestion, "Sure Jacob, that's really nice of you. Should we meet in the student organization lounge?" We confirmed the location and said a quick goodbye before I dashed in to get my exam.

The whole appointment was fairly painless, except the part were the blow air into my eye, that just ticked me off, and when everything looked like it was going to be ready to go, he gave me the verdict, "I see you have never worn contacts. It looks like you have developed an astigmatism, there is a special type of contact that may help correct it better then traditional glasses. Would you like to give them a try."

"I've had glasses since the third grade, I really would prefer to just get another pair."

"It will take about a week to get the lens in, are you sure you want to go that long. With the contacts we can get you going before you leave."

I sighed, "Fine, lets give them a try." He led me into a room adjacent to the where we had the exam, putting two little containers in front of me.

"Just take your time putting them in, they may take a bit of an adjustment." Fiddling around with my eyes seemed slightly dangerous. What if I did some damage in the process? How could he just leave me in here to my own devices? With a quite a few awkward attempts, I was finally able to get them to stay in. When I finally looked up at myself and saw my face clearly for the first time without glasses since I was eight years old, I sat back in a bit of shock. Was that really what my face looked like?

I have always been a plain girl, with unnaturally pale skin and lifeless brown eyes. When I was first prescribed my glasses in the fourth grade I found just a bit of comfort hiding behind my lenses. Now with them gone I felt – so—so naked. But at least I could see.

"I would still like to order a pair of glasses, I really feel more comfortable in them," the doctor simply nodded, directing me to the saleslady in the front of the store who kept steering me toward several very delicate pairs. In the end I insisted on a pair of thick deep midnight blue glasses that probably screamed "Librarian!" but felt comfortable on my face.

***************

The day passed quickly, and it was amazing what details I had been missing over the last several days. It felt like a movie where a girl learns how to see the world in a way she never saw it before. Classes went better now that I knew when a professor was asking me a question, and I even went around and replaced campaign posters that had been vandalized with some very interesting male anatomical parts. I was so happy to see that I did not even cringe when I walked into my seven o'clock meeting with Jacob and say yet another poster where my face and the presidential nominee sported goatees.

"Hiya Bells! How is everything looking?"

"Great, I can see clearly now!" I brought a couple of bottled root beers and we settled down to work. Jacob was amazing; he had a list of awesome questions, and went through each one until I felt absolutely comfortable with my responses.

"Gee Jake, I only hope I sound this good in front of a crowd of students."

"You are going to do great Bells I know it," Jacob looked down at his notes for a second before looking back up at me with a more serious expression, "Bells, if you don't mind me asking, why did you decide to run for student body vice-president? Not to be rude, but you don't like being in front of people, in fact you tend to run to the opposite corner whenever a group of people are around."

I looked at my hands a moment and could feel myself unintentionally biting my lower lip, it was hard to verbalize my exact reasons, but I gave it a try, "Well, firstly, I don't think I am political at all, the opposite of it in fact, but my freshman year there were cuts to the English department programs and an infusion of money into the hockey program. It made no sense to me. When we talked to the dean about it, he said that the sports programs were revenue generators, and therefore a better university financial investment. But what I heard is that sports programs were a better investment then I was as an English major.

"So I asked who made the budget they said the faculty senate with guidance from the student senate. Then I found out that we did not have a full representation from the English department on the student senate, and I was just stubborn enough to join."

"You always were the stubborn one, even when were little Bells. If your dad said you couldn't do something because it was for boys, you would prove him wrong and do it anyways."

"With the exception of bating my hook, that is just disgusting," Jacob grinned at me, "That's why I went on so many fishing trips though, Charlie said it was a guy thing, even at three I had to prove a point."

"So then, why vice-president, wouldn't you want to go for the big guns and be top dog?"

"Jake, I said I was stubborn, not crazy," he looked at me in confusion so I tried to clarify, "With the exception of the debate next week, I will only have to chair the senate meetings and take more of an administrative roll in the office, the president is the face of the organization. Plus there is a huge incentive in the position even if it is not the 'top dog' of the group."

"What's that Bells?"

"The President and Vice-President have their full year's tuition paid for. That is a huge burden off of me, not to mention Charlie and Renee. They try to help, but I hate having to ask either one of them for money, its not like they are rolling in it. I mean, Charlie is a police chief in a rural town and Renee is a pre-school teacher. Not exactly jumping into Uncle Scrooge's coin pit."

"Nice old school cartoon reference there. Okay, I see your point. I hope it all works out, you really deserve it, and you've been working your behind off to win this thing."

"Thanks Jake, and its fun hanging out with you again like when we were younger. You are a pretty cool guy when you are not trying to be cocky."

Jacob looked at me with a mock face of pain, "Oh Bells, that one hurt hard, right here in the heart."

We joked around for a bit before each heading back to our dorm for the night. As much as I hated to admit it, when Jacob was not trying to swoon the women on campus and stuck to being just a good friend, he was an okay guy.

Over the next week Jacob and I hung out every day, and he helped me with debate prep. I started to get a little nervous when rumors started popping up that there was a late entry into the race. Sam Uley was running for President, and his running partner, Paul, who was known to have a pretty volatile temper dropped out of the race after having a very heated argument after one of our recent senate meetings. When I told Jacob, he assured me that even in the off chance it would happen, they would hardly have an advantage since no one on campus knew they were running. He tried to console me that it was simply Sam's VP and that it would not draw that much interest. Just the thought of a dark horse candidate caused my nerves to spiral out of control.

The day of the debate the student center was surprisingly packed for the debate. I had imagined that most of the students would not be interested in the spectacle, but the prospect of a rogue candidate coming out of no where appeared to intrigue everyone.

I sat down next to my running mate, Zafrina, a strikingly beautiful foreign exchange student from South America who's exterior could only be matched by her quick wit. The way she spoke and the stories she told could paint pictures inside your head that almost took on reality. It was my hope that I could be lost in her shadow during the debate, and I thanked the good heavens that my security blanket made it a day early – my new thick rimmed glasses adorned my face giving just another layer of protection against the onslaught of nerves.

Sam made his way to the stage and the curiosity of who his running partner would be increased tenfold when he sat up at the stage alone. My nerves started to get the best of me when I saw Jacob's bright smile from across the room. He promised me he would be there with tons of good energy being thrown my way, and I found that I truly depended on his support to make it through this debate.

Over the last week I had reconnected with Jacob and saw a tender side. He acted like a gentleman toward me and just made me feel comfortable in my own skin. When the womanizer side was taken away from his persona, he made a terrific friend. Of course when I told Charlie that I started to hang out more with Jacob, he was more then ecstatic. I thought I even heard him mumble over the phone something about Billy and "best in-law ever" but know he was only joking, I mean the man wants me to become a nun even though we are not even Catholic.

When I was around Jacob everything just felt comfortable and right. Angela started spending more time around her longtime boyfriend Ben saying that she did not feel like she was ditching me now that I had someone else to spend time with. We even planned a weekend to travel back to Forks together in a couple weeks and spend time with some of our old friends on the Reservation and hang out with our dads.

So when he walked in and started toward the front to cheer me on, I knew everything was going to be alright. He walked right up to the makeshift stage that was set up and came to my side,

"Hiya Bells, I hope you are keeping those nerves in check."

"I feel infinity better now that you are here," the grin never left my face.

"You are going to do great Bells, good luck!" he kissed me a quick kiss on the cheek and walked away. But instead of going back to the crowd he crossed behind me and went to stand by Sam. The two shook hands firmly and Jacob took a spot next to him on the stage.

Zafrina turned to me with a look of surprise and asked, "Is Jacob Black going to be Sam Uley's new running mate?" Good question, I honestly did not know what was going on and I am sure my mouth gapping wide open made that abundantly clear.

"Umm, umm…" I started to mumble uncontrollably. That could not be happening, there must be a more reasonable explanation.

Before I could analyze the situation thoroughly, the Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs stepped on stage and began to welcome all of the students, and started off by introducing Zafrina and me as candidates. She then started her other introduction, "and on the second team we have Sam Uley running for Vice-President and Jacob Black running for President."

Wait, did I hear that correctly? I know my brain was slowly regressing into a mental fetal position, but did the Vice-Chancellor just say that not only was Jacob running, he was running or President?

Crap.

Jacob Crap-tastic Black.

Before I even had time to stew over this new revelation the Vice-Chancellor asked her first question and directed it toward Jacob, "Let's start off general shall we? Mr. Black, why did you decide to run for Student Body President?"

"Thank you for that question," Jacob looked around the room and gave his infamous grin. The grin he said was reserved only for me, that filthy liar, "I decided to run for President because there is a disparity in how our university budget is put together. Instead of looking at simply what programs we have to cut in such tough economic times, we also have to look at what programs can generate income and help sustain the university. The athletic department, for instance, for every dollar we invest in the athletics we have the potential of receiving two back in revenue from games and merchandise sales."

The debate continued and thankfully most of the questions we were asked were directed toward Zafrina. There was one question that the Vice-Chancellor directed toward me that hit a little too close to home, "Ms. Swan, what character trait do you find most important to your position?"

Without pause I answered, "Honesty and integrity. President Herbert Hover once said, 'Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.' If you are not open and honest with your constituents and your friends, then they simply loose faith in you. Your intentions become less than noble and more or less self-serving. When you lack honesty you lose your integrity."

As soon as the Vice-Chancellor made a few closing remarks thanking everyone for a civil debate, I sprinted from the stage and ran out bumping into a few people along the way.

"Bella! Wait up!" Jacob's voice rose over the crowd outside of the auditorium. I quickened my pace but and made it outside the building before a strong pair of hands wrapped around my waist and twisted me around, "Look at me Bella, what's wrong?"

"You are kidding me right? Right! What is wrong?" I could feel the venom in my voice rising to the surface fueled by a sense of betrayal, "I thought you were my friend Jacob, and you've been playing me all along. _'I'll help you with the debate'_ Help my ass, you wanted to know what I was planning, you were spying on me!"

"Bells, its not how it looks," there was a fear starting to creep into his voice. Good, I wanted him to _feel_ my anger.

"Then explain it to me. Because right now it looks like my friend set me up to be the biggest chump at this university."

"I swear it wasn't like that. Sam grew up on the Reservation with me, he was like a mentor to me. When Paul dropped out he was hung out to dry. A couple of days ago he asked me to fill in on the ticket with him. He figured he wasn't going to win anyways since you and Zafrina are amazing, but he wanted to at least give the student body a good election. He figured it is not much of a choice if there is only one team to vote for."

"If you were just 'filling in' then why are you running as President on the ticket?" my anger continued to build.

"Sam and I talked, and he said on the very slim chance that we won, he said I was the natural leader of the two of us. I told him he was absurd, he is older and has more experience in student government, but he insisted that he would be better as my second in command. I swear I never meant to hurt you Bella."

"You know how important this is to me, so you decided helping Sam was more important then me. Let me know, because I want to know where I stand with you Jacob."

"Bells, you cannot expect me not to help Sam, he is like blood."

"Funny, you never hung out with him before."

"Bella—"

"No Jacob, I cannot trust you anymore. Go hang out with your gang from the Res, give me a call when you remember whom your real friends are. You know, the ones who actually check up on you when you are deathly ill." I turned and ran off before Jacob had a chance to catch his breath. This betrayal I imagined to be the most painful emotion possible.

***************

My bed was my haven that evening. I never imagined that I would be so devastated about a student government election. I suppose I should have been proud that I received the most votes of any of the student senators, but I poured my soul into my Vice President portion of our ticket. During the course of the night I starred at the ceiling and thought about everything that transpired over the past couple of weeks.

Zafrina and I had lost. Jacob being the popular name on campus showing up at house parties and sports events rallied support for his ticket and won by a three percent margin. I should have been proud that it was so close, but my plans for my final year of college were in shambles. No matter what I did I would have to quit the student senate to find a job to offset my tuition costs. A few days after the debate I ended up in the hospital with a fever that turned into acute pneumonia that I assumed my former friend passed along to me. And to top it all off I lost my friend in the worst fashion possible.

This sudden spontaneous urge filled me. I jumped up from my bed and began to pace. Escape, that was all I wanted to do. I could not take any more, ever since I was a little child I dreamed of traveling the globe, learning about new cultures, immersing myself in the world. I wanted to write about what I saw and sharing my stories. I had let those dreams slip by me to make room for a futile ambition.

I looked at the alarm clock and it was almost 5:30am. There was no way I would fall asleep, instead I threw on my running gear and headed outside. This was the only way to clear my mind and really focus on what was happening. The air was crisp and caught in my lungs. Each stride held the cold air inside of me, but that coolness brought rejuvenation to my mind.

Looking down at my watch I realized I ran for over an hour and lost track of time meditating to the sound of my own step.

I had to escape.

Lost in my thoughts found myself outside the International Programs office and waited for the doors to open. A receptionist unlocked the door and looked a bit taken back when she saw me jump up from the seat in the hallway.

"Hi, I was wondering if there were still spots available for a trip next fall?"

"Wait just a second darlin', I have to put away my things and start this computer up. I'll be right with you." She turned on the ancient computer and stepped into a back room for a moment. When she reappeared and looked settled, I stepped forward again.

She looked at me expectantly, "Alright, you were looking to go abroad?"

"Yes, what are options for this fall?"

"Wow, that is kind of quick. Are you sure you do not want to take some time and think about what program you would like to go on and try for next spring."

"Are they all full?"

"Well, no, there are a few trips that have some openings. Paris, Japan, London…"

"London sounds fantastic, sign me up."


	3. UnBella

**a/n: I do not own the characters, they are property of the talented Stephanie Meyer. **

**While I note this chapter is slightly shorter then I would usually post, it is still in the stage setting part of the story before the real action begins to take place. And if any of you think the G4 character is too unrealistic, let me reassure you, I have had a G4 in my life and it was not a pleasant experience. Plus, I published it much earlier then I anticipated.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

_**Un-Bella**_

Of course I could not sleep on the flight to London. Stuck in the middle of my row, every time the urge to use the bathroom took hold, my neighbors in seats G4 and G6 would happen to fall asleep.

Murphy's law of travel plagued me as well; the passengers that will annoy you the most will be seated on either side of your poor excuse of personal space chair. Oversize and certainly bulging into half of my seat, the "gentleman" in seat G4, my nearest exit, popped a dramamen as soon as the fasten seatbelt light flashed on. His shear girth invading my space was not his main offender; it was the rancid smell. His oiled hair had not seen a shower in what must have been days, and as a person who generally tolerates everyone, I could not help but stare at the pit stain that engulfed a significant portion of his shirt.

When the persisting need to pee would not subside, I gently nudged G4 hoping he would wake and let me pass. He did not respond. I figured there were only two viable options. The first, simply pee my pants. The smell would surely be masked by G4's own stench. The second, to climb G4 like Mt. Everest and attempt to jump from his summit-stomach and land in the aisle. Nether option particularly appealed to me, but I chose the latter.

Launching myself from my seat I took a small leap in an attempt to hurtle over G4, and almost felt a sense of victory when my right foot made it into the narrow aisle. Ready to start my victory, I quickly realized that my left foot was still wedged securely between the seat and G4's engorging stomach.

I was straddling the freaking summit.

"Mmmom…" Of course now the beast decided to wake from his slumber. And what did he just mutter? I shuttered thinking about sick kind of dream I just woke him from. G4's eyes began to flutter and open when the shock wore out and the pupils began to darken. Just when my mortification could go no further, G4 grinned and took his tart little tongue across his lips.

G4 freaking licked his lips. Oh no, he did not just wink at me.

Before this atrocity could go on any further a flight attendant walked down the aisle with a slight look of panic on her face. I am sure it mirrored the panic on my own face. Never in my life have a felt so violated. Just as she was about to reach me, I was able to swing my other leg over and slide down his stomach like a child would on a piece of playground equipment. G4 groaned in satisfaction, his attitude running low on my already thin patience. So I did what any civilized young lady would do – let out a quiet fart and then walked down the aisle holding my nose and nodding toward G4 with a look of disgust. The rest of the passengers and stewardesses began throwing him evil looks.

When I came back up the aisle the stewardess who gave me the sympathy glance before stopped me,

"Miss, the gentleman sitting next to you fell asleep again, instead of waking him or, _well, you know_--how would you like to relocate to the Business Class section. We have a vacant seat that may be more accommodating," sweeter words had never reached my ears. At this point I was willing to sacrifice my Ipod on the seat for the remainder of the flight and my book tucked neatly in the pocket in front of me.

Settled in my new, much roomier seat I began to think back over the summer when I broke the news to Charlie and Renee about my new plans for the fall semester. Both acted almost as I anticipated, although there were a few surprises. I broke the news to Renee first, simply because I thought her flighty personality would take pride in my newfound spontaneity. I called her the day after I visited the International Programs office and signed myself up.

"_Hi Renee, how is Florida treating you today?" I hoped she did not hear the forced enthusiasm in my voice. _

"_Bella, I can tell something is wrong, tell me right now," dagnabit, she was always too perceptive for her own good. _

"_I am going to study abroad starting this fall in London." Silence. A sigh. More silence. A deep breath._

"_When did you decide to do this?"_

"_Yesterday," I instinctively cringed waiting for her reply._

"_Well, I have to say this is very un-Bella."_

"_Did I just become an adjective?"_

"_No sweetie, you are still a noun. Seriously though, I have been trying for years to get you to live a little, loosen up and live outside the box but your old soul holds you down. What changed that made you make this decision?"_

_Jacob's betrayal was too fresh in my mind to bring it up. My brain was trying to reconcile that I still believed he cares about me with his fervent loyalty toward Sam. I did not want to talk about this Renee, so I shifted the conversation away from the reasons and towards the possibilities._

"_I was able to increase my financial aid if I took an internship at the British Parliament with a MP."_

"_What's an MP?"_

"_It's a Member of Parliament. The increase in financial aid not only means that I can afford a semester abroad, but I can register with the English department at one of the colleges at the University of London. Renee, I am going to be exploring the inspiration for my favorite literary works!" I left out that I discovered all this information after making up my decision to study in London. Then I added in the clincher, "When else in my life am I going to have months to explore Europe. I have nothing tying me down, no boyfriend, no job, no children, I'm not married—"_

With those words Renee was sold on my decision. She never wanted me to commit to a serious relationship when I was in my twenties, heck she was even hesitant of me committing to someone in my thirties. Growing up she said that I was undoubtedly the best thing that happened to her, but settling down at such a young age took away a lot of her personal goals for life, something I knew she regretted. Drilled into my head since I could learn how to speak, Renee told me to live without attachments for as long as possible and enjoy the finer parts of life.

I waited several days to call Charlie. Somehow I could not put together a strategic way to share my news. Unfortunately, I did not have time to craft a good message, because he ended up calling me.

"_Hi Charlie," I know my voice sounded tentative but he so rarely called me I instinctively knew something was amiss. _

"_Bells – why didn't you tell me? I had to find out from Renee that you are going to study all the way over in England. I waited two days thinking you were going to call me, but the phone never rang."_

"_I am so sorry dad, I wanted to find a good way to tell you, I really did," I pulled the 'dad' card in an attempt to soften him up a tad._

"_Kiddo, I don't feel comfortable with you all the way over there by yourself. Heck, I hate that you are in Seattle by yourself. It just doesn't feel safe."_

"_I won't be alone dad, I will be going over there with a group of students from the University, and we will have a faculty trip advisor staying with us the whole time. He is even teaching one of my classes when I am over there."_

"_I still don't like it Bells. Not to mention, I don't think we can afford it." _

_Charlie was concerned, but I told him how I was able to adjust my financial aid and receive additional grants targeted for study abroad students. I was even honest how this may even work out better for me financially since I did not have the student government scholarship to fall back on. He expressed his apprehension that I was only doing this because I could not afford school, and I told him about the once in a lifetime opportunities that I would experience in London. We went back and forth with my decision, and to be honest it was one the longest conversations Charlie and I have ever had in my entire life. After a moment of silence he said something I doubted I would ever hear come from his lips,_

"_Just don't come back with one of those funny accents. Sometimes I cannot understand a word they are saying."_

That was about the most positive confirmation that I could have ever expected to ever come from Charlie's mouth.

Now I was sitting on a plane, very much alone. Since I was late signing up, I did not have a seat with the rest of my classmates who were traveling to London. I had also missed all of the orientation meetings that happened earlier in the semester, so I knew no one. No one on this trip knew a thing about me, how I preferred to hide amongst stacks of books in the library then go out and party the night away. Not a single soul knew how ordinary I am, just plain boring Bella. They were sure to discover this all soon enough once we stepped of the plane and started the semester.

Renee's words came back to me, "_I have to say this is very un-Bella,"_ she was absolutely right, the impulse to come is the most spontaneous thing I have ever done in my life. The idea of 'un-Bella' made me slightly uneasy, it is so outside of my comfort zone. I liked routines, sticking by the rules, blending in and pushing attention away from myself. When professors would force us to think outside the box, my biggest rebellion was to stay inside the box. The box is a very nice place to be, thank you very much. The exterior sides soothing, providing limits and boundaries. All the people I knew in Seattle knew to assume the expected from me. My high school friends in Forks knew they could count on me to be predictable. And heavens knows Renee always needed me to be the sensible one in our family growing up since she certainly could not fill that role.

I am a lot like Charlie in that respect we both appreciate boundaries. That is what made him a respected Police Chief, what you see is what you get. Even after the divorce and he remained in Forks and Renee and I moved to Phoenix, he was in charge of reining her in. One spring when I was seven Renee had the idea to pick up and buy an RV to travel cross-country and 'explore America'. Charlie gently reminded her that I needed to finish the school year and that she should postpone the trip until June. By the time summer rolled around Renee forgot about her ill-laid plans and started taking sky diving lessons. She never did end up jumping from any planes, but she did date her instructor for a before calling off ironically called him, 'too grounded' of an individual who lacked spontaneity.

When Renee finally settled down and married Phil I though there would finally be some consistency in our lives. Phil was a minor league baseball player at the time, and had just been part of a trade that landed him in Jacksonville. Renee thought they could keep their Phoenix home and just move to Florida for the season. Of course that meant I would have to spend part of my school year in two different states, and if I was not enough of a loner, trying to survive in two different schools a year and inevitably suffering the new kid syndrome where everyone stares at you lacked appeal. Not to mention Renee and Phil were most definitely in the honeymoon stage of their marriage and it made living in the same home exceptionally awkward.

When I told Charlie about my decision to move to Forks over the phone I thought his response lacked enthusiasm. Then I started to panic thinking that moving in with him would cramp bachelor lifestyle. How could he want his seventeen-year-old daughter to move in after all these years? I saw him but a few weeks a year, and only talked to him occasionally on the phone. We barely knew each other, and I started to regret my decision.

Since I truly did not know as much about Charlie as I should have, when I finally arrived in Forks I walked into my new home and realized the only thing that had changed were the frames on the mantle now had updated school photos of me from the prior year and a new flat screen television replaced the old tube. Everything else looked like homage to the era we left for Phoenix when I was a toddler.

All the folks in town wanted to stop by because the Police Chief's daughter coming back to Forks is the biggest news of the year. Even when I would go to the local diner to eat supper with Charlie on the nights he insisted I did not cook, the waitress would come over and tell how excited everyone was to see me and how much my father talked about me since I decided to come back. It was then everything clicked; Charlie was not disappointed in my return. He simply played the roll of the strong silent type very well. I often suspected that he was rather lonely, and even though we did not talk a great deal, just being there was a comfort.

As I sat back in my seat and looked at the monitor embedded into the headrest in front of me I saw the plane's progress across the Atlantic. The little red arrow signaled how close I was to approaching my new destination. A stewardess tapped my shoulder to pull me from my thoughts.

"I thought you might want these, they were at your old seat," she handed me my carry on bag and Ipod, and I slipped the buds in my ears.

"Thank you."

The music pulsed through me; my favorite artist of the moment came through loud and clear,

"This heart has been turned to stone/where has my innocence gone/where do I fit in/where do I belong/because I've been feeling ill at ease/restless in this body/don't even want to fight/time has taken its precious toll on me/if I've given up/given in/to the emptiness inside of me" Something in the lyrics made sense to me. For the longest time I have felt like I am simply walking through life and filling expectations, but never really living for myself.

"Life is moving right past me/yet I always seem to be so grounded/disappointment is in all eyes around me/expectations are never what they seem/now caught up in everything/means just about nothing to me/its about what everyone else needs/looking back at my life I feel never truly being free/never truly being me—"

Natalie Wattre knew what she was talking about when she penned this song. For the first time in my life I want to be un-Bella. I grabbed my glasses case from my backpack and took the frames from my face and carefully placed them inside pulling out my contact container. Slowly opening the lids I slid them into place blinking a couple times to feel the adjustment on my eyes. I put the curtain I was used to wearing back into my bag and set back into my seat with a small grin.

If there was ever a time to discover un-Bella the red arrow on the screen was pointing me to the ideal place to try it out.

* * *

The plane landed in Heathrow where I ventured into the terminal and met up with the rest of my group who had been seated together near the rear of the plane. Our trip advisor was Dr. Ilaned of the history department, although he fervently asked us to call him by his first name, Eleazar. He was a tall man with dark hair that carried an interesting olive tone in his completion. His wife, Carmen, joined him on the trip since she had just retired as a local high choir teacher. For lack of a better word, even in her late fifties she was strikingly beautiful and had the same dark hair as her husband. Something about the two of them made you feel like they had a quiet and compassionate relationship.

Eleazar introduced himself once again to the group and his thick Spanish accent became apparent. His wife shared the same accent and walked around the group handing out an itinerary for the rest of the week. It explained how we would take a bus back to our student housing and the different orientations we would participate in before beginning classes.

After picking up my hiking backpack from the luggage claim, I joined the rest of my group outside to load into our waiting bus. A small smirk met my lips as I walked on with my head up trying to pull out assurance from my core. Near the middle of a bus, a man with blondish hair waved me over to an open seat next to him.

"So you are our newest group mate, Isabella right? I'm Mike Newton." He held out his hand. I took and gave it a firm shake in an attempt to display my newfound confidence.

"I prefer Bella. It's nice to meet you Mike."

"Man, you have a grip there," opps, little too much force into the handshake. Mike shook his hand and gave me a grin, "With strength like that they might try and recruit you for the rugby team."

"Hi there Bella!" A petite brunette with curly hair turned around in her seat to great me, "I'm Jessica Stanley. Are you sharing a flat with someone from our group at the International Student House?"

"A flat?" I questioned.

Jessica smiled and answered, "They explained it at the first meeting. It's like an apartment. Most of us here are staying in one with someone from the group. My roommate is Lauren Mallory."

"Oh, okay. Since I signed up they did not have enough to put me with someone fromour group." I pulled out my information packed from my bag, "It looks like I will be staying at the Mary Trevelyan House across from the Royal Music Conservatory. They did not put down who would be my roommate."

Mike, Jessica and I chatted comfortably during our ride into the city. It was good to focus on something besides our bus on the road. To be honest it made my stomach a tad bit queasy to see the traffic on the left side of the road. It felt like at any moment we were going to run into oncoming traffic. But as we entered the heart of the city the entire bus went quiet. Everyone's eyes were glued looking at the buildings and the people. It felt like my eyes could not have enough time to take everything in they so desperately wanted to.

We pulled in front of a crescent shaped building that displayed, "International Student House" in bold lettering over a security check-in. Most of the students from my group parted and received their room assignments for the building. A young woman with green eyes and tan skin came from behind the front desk and introduced herself to me with a thick unfamiliar accent.

"Greetings Miss Swan. My name is Gianna and I am one of your contacts if you call in to the front desk. I am going to walk you over to the Mary Trevelyan House, also affectionately know as MTH, it is not far from here and you should have easy access to all the dining and entertainment facilities. Follow me."

She directed me back out of the doors and down Marylebone Rd. I tried desperately to remember exactly where I was so I would not get lost later on. We walked up a small side street before coming to York Terrace. The road itself had gorgeous townhouses, and I was impressed that they even had a security guard at the entryway. When Gianna noticed me staring she mentioned,

"The International Student House is fortunate because our first patron was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 1965. Since then The Princess Royal has taken over the roll. You will notice that in this particular area there also a great number of foreign embassies for smaller nations, hence the added protection." She nodded her head to the security smiling at me and walking down the street to what at first looked like another townhouse. She glided up the steps and opened the door. Nodding to a gentleman behind the desk who glanced up briefly before waving her threw, she placed a security card in the door entrance, Gianna motioned for me to follow up the stairs. As soon as entered I could hear various voices and instruments flowing down the halls.

"The Royal Music Conservancy is across the street from MTH, so a great deal of their students reside here during their studies. Some are even from locations within the country."

"So not everyone is an international student here?"

"Not technically, but how would you receive the true British experience if you were not surrounded by a few Brits every once in a while?" She chucked before stopping in front of a door on the second floor and led me inside.

It certainly had the charm of an old building with high ceilings and large windows facing out into a massive park. The room was furnished sparsely with two beds in the room, a couple of tables for desks, a narrow closet and a tiny sink. Nothing really matched, but it felt homey nonetheless. Above each bed was a small shelf, and it was then that I noticed one side of the room already had clothes spewed about it.

"Your roommate has already checked in a few days ago, I am sure you will meet her soon. Here are your keys for the door and a pass card for the outside door and the main entrance at ISH. There is a laundry downstairs, and once a week clean linens and towels will be dropped in your room. I am sure you know, but your group will be meeting up this evening for a dinner together and to start your orientation."

"Thanks." I muttered taking the keys and then put down my hiking backpack. When I turned back around Gianna was already gone from the room and the door was shut. I took a few minutes to unpack, but because I traveled lightly it only took ten minutes to put everything away. I finished and sat at the edge of my bed putting my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. Sitting silently for a moment I assessed the disaster on the other side of the room, whoever was my roommate looked like she lived here for much longer then three days. There were clothes littering the floor, dozens of pictures taped onto the walls, and sketchpads littering the desk. In place of the bedding that ISH provided there was a bright comforter sitting at a disheveled heap at the end of the bed.

Glancing at my travel alarm clock I realized I had some time before my meeting and decided to go and take a walk across the street to check out the park I could see from my window. Opening the door to my room to leave, I felt a blur of wind and excited chatter soon followed.

"Hi, I'm Alice, you must be my roommate!"

* * *

**I have read quite a few stories here on fan fiction and occasionally noticed folks listing the songs that they felt worked with the chapter and the story. The top song , Calm, really was an inspiration for how Bella feels in this chapter.**

**Calm by Natalie Wattre Band.**

**Other Side of the World by KT Tunstall**

**More to Life Stacie Orrico**


	4. Why Not

**a/n: I do not own the characters, they are property of the fabulous Stephanie Meyer. I did give one a haircut though.**

* * *

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**Chapter 3**

_**Why Not**_

The girl who introduced herself as Alice held out her hand expectantly.

I reached out to shake it, "Hi, I'm Bella, uff—" but even before I could finish my sentence she pulled me into a gut wrenching hug. After a moment she left go and I she stood still long enough to finally take a good look at her.

I was short. Alice was much shorter. Her dark hair was think and flipped in every which direction. Her eyes twinkled and she appeared to be bouncing up and down like a humming bird. She was dressed in a green and black tweed dress that flared out with bright blue tights and silver sequined ballet flats. I was absolutely certain I could never pull off the look, but on her petite body it looked stunning.

"Are you heading out?" she asked with an accent, now that I heard it again I tried to place it, almost British, but mixed in a tad with something else that I could not put my finger on.

"I was going to take a walk over and briefly check out the Park."

Alice stifled a laugh, "You are probably going to be walking a while, Regent's Park is one of the largest parks in the city."

"Now I feel stupid, I didn't know that. Maybe I'll revise my plans and go for a quick run instead and leave the exploring for later."

"You could stay here and we could get to know each other better." Alice offered with a hopeful look on her face.

"I've been sitting on a plane for nine hours, right now I just need to get out and stretch my legs."

"Oh, maybe later." Disappointment filled Alice's face.

I bit my lip and then offered, "Hey, I am having dinner with my group mates and a brief orientation this evening, if you are going to be around later maybe we could hang out?" Her eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas.

"I have just the place to go, I've been dying to bring someone there. It's a bit of off-color pub, but it has character!"

"Hold your horses Alice, first off how can we go to a pub, I'm only 20 and cannot get in, and secondly, don't you have classes are something tomorrow?"

"Oh Silly Bella, we are in Europe. Drinking age is 18. And I have a class, but it is not until the afternoon so we have plenty of time to go out. It is your first night here, you should celebrate!"

Shy and reserved Bella would certainly never go out in a foreign the first night she landed with a complete stranger to a pub. On the other hand, that Bella sky dived off a plane in the middle of the Atlantic. Bella 2.0 just grinned and replied,

"Sounds great! I'll be back a little after 7pm." Her enthusiasm was certainly captivating.

I grabbed my running clothes and ran to the bathroom across the hall to get ready. Clipping on my Ipod and throwing my hair back into a haphazard pony-tail, I ran back across the hall to throw my clothes on the bed. When I reappeared I noticed Alice sizing up the contents of my closet.

"Alice, are you looking for something?" I certainly hoped I was not rooming with a pickpocket.

"Bella, where are the rest of your clothes?"

"What are you talking about?" I started to panic and wondered where they could have run off to, I had been in the room practically since I walked through the door. Looking inside I was relieved to see everything still hanging up on the little plastic hangers, "Alice, you scared me. Everything is here."

"You cannot be serious, Bella, how do you plan to even make it through a week with this wimpy wardrobe?" I had barely known the girl for fifteen minutes and she already had the gull to insult my clothing, "This will simply not do, first thing tomorrow we are going shopping."

"Alice, the first thing you should know about me as a roommate is that I do not shop. The second is that I do not plan on leaving this country with any clothes other then what I originally brought with me. I packed light on purpose in case at the end of my time here I wanted to travel on the continent a little bit."

Alice just shook her head as if she was done with the conversation for the time being but I thought I heard her mumble under her breath, "Hmph…we'll see about that."

Grabbing my keys I waved a quick goodbye and made my way to the front door. Running around the block I easily found an entrance to Regent's Park. I immediately saw a small canal and a path running along side that I decided to take. The park looked like it was immaculately cared for and seemed like the quintessential way to welcome myself to London. Quaint and very British.

I settled into a comfortable rhythm when "We Run" popped up on my Ipod and I started to sing along,

"Lips like gravity pull me under/reckless weather on his breath/smells like rain/hits like thunder/storm is comin/I got nothin' left."

As I hit the refrain I passed a group of guys sitting around a bench with their guitars. I could not hear what they were playing over the music pouring through my ear buds, but I did notice they all had the grunge and emo look perfected. I continued on the path with the refrain,

"So we run, yeah, yeah, yeah, we run/come undone like a string on a sweater/that you pull but you know better/but doing what you shouldn't half the fun/so we run--," at that moment my chronic clumsiness settled back in and I stumbled over my own feet. My brain registered for half a second the image of Jacob swooping in to wrap his large arms around me and to stop me before I fell like he always did. Of course he was half a world away right now and I rolled down to the ground and scrapped my leg on the pavement.

"Crap," I muttered looking at the mess. My leg was bleeding from several spots but it did not feel like there was any major damage. I pulled off my shoe and took my sock off to wipe up the mess and help blot the cuts until I could get back to my room and bandage it up; thankfully they too only looked to be surface wounds. When it looked like it everything was under control, I put my sock and shoe back on and stood up to continue my run. After years of injuries like this thanks to my natural clumsiness, I always found it is simpler to get up and keep going otherwise I would never get a good run in.

Once I brushed myself off I noticed one of the emo guys look at me in disgust while running a hand through his messy hair and then turn back to his friends. Someone did mention that some British tended to act a bit snobbish; I figure this is all a part of the cultural experience. I just shrugged and pressed play while turning to the group of congregating guitarists to smile smugly. No little sidewalk was going to take me down. I continued on belting out the lyrics to the song without a care in the world,

"Fire and laughter, fence posts flyin'/feel the fever in the air/can't remember what came before him/and what comes after I don't care/hands are tremblin', swore I wouldn't/one more look and I'll give in/hundred reasons why I shouldn't/but I lost my heart and wanted him to win."

The pain from my leg numbed and my pace quickened through the refrain and picked up on the last verse,

"I hear the lever on his voice, it's a callin' not a choice/and I can't keep myself from followin' the sound/ yeah, you may never know how fast that you can go/till someone lifts your feet up off the ground."

* * *

Eleazar and Carmen decided to hold the meeting during dinner and gave us the basic information on the ISH campus and where our classes would take place. They also set up appointments with students in our group with internships. I was nervous to hear about my assignment with parliament since other then student government I had no experience with anything political.

At seven on the dot I made it back to my room at MTH to find a rather bouncy Alice waiting by my bed. A pair of jeans I brought with me was sitting on my bed, along with a shirt I did not recognize.

"I set some clothes out for you so we can go straight away to the pub," Alice bounced excitedly, I hope you do not mind but I invited my boyfriend."

"Of course he can come along. Umm, Alice, that's not my shirt? Plus what is wrong with what I have on right now," I pointed to my outfit. I had changed after my run and cleaned up my mess.

"It's my shirt, but it looks like it should fit you. Don't you want to make a good impression on London Bella? You cannot do that in grungy jeans and a t-shirt."

Before I could respond Alice had already lifted my shirt and I thought I heard her scowl and mutter, "_eww, sports bra_," under her breath. I attempted to push her away and tell her that I was perfectly capable of dressing myself but the little pixie fluttered around me too quickly. Before I knew it she had my hair back in messy ponytail and some light make-up on my face.

"Best I can do with the little time we have available. Follow me, it's close so we can walk," for being so tiny, Alice was quite quick and hard to keep up with.

"Where exactly are we going Alice?"

"The pub's name is 'Dirty Dick's'. A friend of my boyfriend owns it, so it should be perfectly British, and the perfect place for you to become acquainted with England at its finest!"

"So you are telling me that 'Dirty Dick's' is the best of England?" Somehow I doubted this theory of hers.

"You'll see," she had a smug smile on her face like she could already tell what kind of evening we would have.

At Alice's breakneck speed we made it to the pub in less than ten minutes. We walked inside and breathed a sigh of relief that 'Dirty Dick's' was not in fact a British version of a strip club. The interior had a dark orange glow. Mis-matched thick wooden furniture crowded the room and the every spare space of wall contained local photographs and chotchkies. The chandeliers were made of old converted wood wheels and metalwork.

Alice guided me to a booth in the back of the small pub where a man about our age with blond curly hair sat, mug in hand and a shit-eating grin on his face. He rose from his chair when he saw us.

"Bella, this bloke is my boyfriend Jasper Whitlock," he reached out his hand and I shook it firmly, although not overdoing it like I had with Mike.

"Nice to meet you Bella. Have a seat my ladies. Any preference for drinks?" Jasper acted like a perfect gentleman and went to fetch a couple pints of beer from the bar. He came back with a tall young man dark brown, almost black hair holding a couple of drinks.

"Bella, I would like you to meet the proprietor of this fine establish, and an all around good chap, Peter,"

"Now you are coming on a bit cheeky there Jasper." Peter grinned as he set down our drinks.

"Why don't you tell us about yourself Bella?" Jasper asked. I felt comfortable talking with the three of them, telling them about my family back in the states, my English major, and how I would be interning for parliament. I purposely left out any information regarding why I decided to study in London in the first place.

"Alice are you from around here, your accent seams almost British," I asked curious if she was why she stayed at ISH.

Sensing my reason for asking, Alice answered, "I am studying fashion design. I am hoping to apprentice with a designer in Paris at the end of term. My family is originally from Scotland, but lives part of the year in London. They spend even more time here since my brothers and I started in at university. I applied for residency at ISH when my brother enrolled at the Royal Music Conservatory, although I rarely see him."

"So your parents live in London too?"

"Yes, and they are jolly good parents, but I wanted to be more independent. You must come with me to visit them on holiday, mum would adore the extra company," Alice's became so excited she began bouncing the entire booth seat.

"Calm yourself Alice, we do not want to scare poor Bella the first night she is here," Jasper's soothing words calmed her immediately and the look the two shared after was so intense, Peter and I turned away for a moment to allow them privacy.

"Are you going to school right now Jasper?" I asked once we all settled back into our drinks.

"I am, and perhaps you will be able to help me," he had a slight smirk on his face.

"Really, now is that?"

"I am studying history and hope to teach it at a secondary school. My specialty is war history. World War II and the American Civil War fascinate me in particular. Perhaps you can share your American perspective."

We spent the night getting to know one and another, and I felt oddly more comfortable with my new British friends whom I had only known for the past eight hours then most of the American friends I left behind in Seattle. They did not hold any preconceived notions about me and for the first time in my life I walked into a relationship Tabula Rosa. My blank slate would be filled with new experiences and I did not want to hold back any longer.

Jasper walked Alice and I back to MTH and made sure we were securely in the building before walking away. We headed up to our room, and once we locked the door I said as an after though,

"Jasper is a pretty cool cat. Good job snagging him Alice."

"I am hoping that translates to he is one hot and sexy man and his arse is mine." We laughed while getting ready for bed.

I smiled at Alice after calming down from my giggles, "Something like that."

"Goodnight Bella."

"Night Alice."

* * *

The next morning I awoke to find Alice's bed empty. There was a note that she had to run out for some errands and would be back later in the afternoon. I did not have to meet with Eleazar until three o'clock, so I decided to head out for a mini tour of the city armed with a pocket map of the city and tube station routes. I was fairly proud of myself for navigating the tube down from the Great Portland Street stop all the way down to the Westminster stop, successfully managing one transfer to get there.

When I came out from underground I was immediately greeted with not only Parliament and Big Ben, but also Westminster Cathedral, and just down the way of the Prime Minister's office at the famous 10 Downing Street. Everything felt so surreal with so many historical landmarks in a compacted area. Across the Thames I could easily see the famous London Eye moving slowly.

I decided to walk down the street past Westminster promising myself to come and visit when I had more time, when a shop sign stuck out from a building, so curious was the name that I had to stop and see what it offered. I peaked in to see a small salon with only three chairs and a modern touch to the décor. Suddenly the impulsive urge returned. Un-Bella shrieked in delight, the sign on the door read, "Why Not"

"You're right," I murmured. A few passers by gave me a strange look while I answered a non-existent question.

Without a second thought I pushed the glass door open and stood in the entry, but after that I was not sure exactly what to do. There were three stylists all attending to customers in their chairs looking very focused on their current project. Each stylist was even more ecliptic then the next. The closest stylist to me turned around and faced me with chunky purple glasses and blond hair spiked back. Each strand looked perfectly placed and complimented her sleek navy blue leather jacket and slim black jeans.

"Hi there, with you in a minute," her voice was thick with an Australian accent and her hands never left contact with her customer's head.

I found a plush chair in the corner and aimlessly browsed through magazines, never really paying attention to the content on the pages. It felt surreal to be sitting in a salon in the heart of London when just a day before I was hugging my dad goodbye from the airport in Seattle. I must have dazed off when I heard a voice, quickly snapping out of my thoughts,

"Come on over and have a seat," it was the chic Australian and she held out a hand to her now empty chair. When I settled in she continued, "Hi I'm Samantha, what were you thinking for today?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I'm really bad at styling and thinking up things to do. I guess, um, whatever you think looks best and I don't have to do a lot to style it in the morning?" From her reflection in the mirror I saw Samantha give a little crooked smile and run her hands through my hair while seeming to analyze it intently.

"Alright, we are going to take off some length, you alright with that?"

"Whatever you think is best."

"Let's get you washed up then dear." Samantha directed me to a sink and went to work with recreating my style. At first she fully immersed herself with fixing my mess of a head, but once it looked like there was a light at the end of the tunnel, she directed her attention to a bit of conversation.

"From your accent you do not sound like you are from around here," Samantha said smiling from behind her glasses rim.

"No, I'm here studying from the U.S. It sounds like you are from…"

"Australia. Yes, I transplanted myself here. We Aussies like to travel and this seemed like a good spot to set up a shop."

"You own this place?"

Samantha chuckled, "Yes, I came here six years ago and it just clicked, like this was the place to set down…for a while at least. I found this place for sale and the location was just too perfect. The words I said when I decided to stay were, 'why not' and that just sort of stuck."

"Well, it is catchy, I admit that was the reason I walked through the door."

"You're not the first person to say that," Samantha said chuckling again, "So, I usually don't see a lot of tourists wandering around the city by themselves. Are you from university here by yourself?"

"No, there is a group of twenty of us. They planned a lot of activities for our group to get close, but sometimes, I just need to escape for a bit."

"With a city the size of London, don't you find it difficult to get away with so many bloody people around?"

"On the contrary, I think it will be really easy. With some many people you become anonymous. Everyone goes about their own lives and doesn't really notice…" I wanted to say someone as plain as me, but I amended the statement, "doesn't really notice _you_." Samantha smiled at that and twirled me around to begin blow-dry and style my hair. Moments later she spun me to face the mirror again,

"Well no one will ignore you now," she said with that same crooked smile. A seemingly small change, but the result shocked me with the new asymmetrical bob that was daring and entirely unlike anything I had ever seen before. It seemed like the hair just floated along my jaw line making my eyes look infinitely larger.

"Nice work Samantha," the stylist working next to us said in approval. Certainly my old style had frightened them all and I would not doubt that they did not think she would find a way to tame the shrew of hair.

"Wow, I don't know what to say. Well, yes I do. It looks fantastic! Thank you Samantha."

"Not a problem darling, lets get you rung up so you can go have fun with your new hair." Even with the horrible exchange rate, handing over the £20.90 did not seem to be so unbearable. Walking out of that salon I felt liberated, even if just for a moment. Spontaneity had become my drug and was coming in to fill a gap, what the true gap was, I could not be so sure.

* * *

I made it back to ISH in time to meet with Eleazar about my internship and met him in the small bar and grill on the main level. He was already seated, probably putting notes together from his last student meeting.

"Hi Eleazar."

"Good afternoon Isabella," I cringed internally of the use of my formal name, but decided not to correct him, "I hope you enjoyed your first night in London."

"Very much so, I have a fantastic roommate who is from the UK who promised to show me around."

"You are very lucky. Sometimes I worry that when the American students stick together they miss out on the entire experience of studying abroad by going out and meeting people," a waiter stopped at our table and handed Eleazar and me a water, "So Isabella, are you excited to start your internship in parliament?"

"I have to admit I am a little nervous. I really do not know a lot about government and politics to begin with. I was slightly surprised I was placed with this internship since I am an English major."

"Ah, yes. I understand your concern. However, you were placed in this particular position because of your major," he assessed the confused expression on my face and continued on, "The particular MP you will be working with requested someone who could assist in speech writing and press releases. He expressed interest in having someone who was outside of the world of politics join his office to give it a fresh perspective in hopes you could force them to explain the policies to regular British citizens."

I bit my lip and mumbled, "I have never written a speech before, and I'm not sure how good at this I will be."

"Ah Isabella, you need to have faith in yourself. You will be assisting a head writer, so the pressure will not be entirely on your shoulders. Your job will be more of going through and making sure anyone could understand the message they relay. As sad as it may sound, you are going to help bring it down for the masses." Eleazar had an encouraging smile on his face, and I repeated to myself why I was here in the first place.

"I came here because I wanted to try something different and have a broad experience that I would not get in Seattle. It would not be fair to myself to give up before I even try."

"That is good to hear," Eleazar handed me a manila folder, "This packet includes information on the primary MP you will be working with as well as your weekly schedule. Nothing should conflict with the other classes you are taking. You will start next week and are to report to the main entrance at 9 am on the dot. The British are very astute when it comes to punctuality. From there they will get you settled in." I took the papers and before I left Eleazar shook my hand,

"Carmen always says I have a gift in seeing other people's abilities. Isabella, I have faith that you will do well at this internship, better then even you expect of yourself."

******************

I arrived back at my flat when I heard some rather strange noises coming from my room. I decided to knock and give fair warning to whoever and whatever was going on inside,

"Are you okay in there Alice?" I should not have been surprised when I stumbled in to find Alice smoothing out her dress and Jasper trying to button his shirt back up.

"And here I thought I liked you Bella," Jasper smirked as he tried to tame his messy hair.

"What I just did would be know as a cock-block back in the states," I said trying to be witty, but my cheeks were still slightly flushed with embarrassment from what I almost walked in on.

"I believe that is a loose translation of what we would call it here," Jasper just smirked and turned to Alice, "I should be going, practice starts soon and they get right angry if I'm late."

As soon as Alice and Jasper shared one of their, what I affectionately called, 'eye ogling moments' she turned toward me expectantly and announced,

"We are going shopping!"

"What do you need to pick up Alice?" I looked over to her side of the room that overflowed with clothes, shoes, and various other offensive items trying to figure out what else this girl could need.

"Not for me my dear, for you of course!"

"Alice, I told you that I do not want anything I do not already have."

"Ah, this is not about wants, this is about need. You said you were going to be interning in parliament and I only saw one ragged suit in the closet. Do you plan on wearing that every single day?" In truth yes, that is exactly what I planned, "It will not look very professional Bella. Not to mention we have to celebrate this new hairstyle, it is very chic. I did not think you had it in you!"

"I gave you two reasons why I am not going to purchase anything else, here is number three. While I am here I do not have a job, so I am living off the meager earnings I have in my savings account. When that bad boy runs dry I am out of luck. There is simply no way I can go clothes shopping."

Alice just put up her hands on her hips and glared at me with an expression that said, _so what_?

"Right then, we are going for me," before I could protest she grabbed my hand and headed for the door.

We took the tube down to the Oxford Street station and came above ground to the busy shopping district. I half expected her to go straight to one of the many department stores, but she surprised me by heading down what I thought was an passageway toward a row of stores that looked like Diagon Alley straight out of freaking Harry Potter. Rows of small boutiques lined the narrow street and expensive handbags and designer dresses sat perched in windows screaming at me, "_Bella, you are out of your league, get your arse out of here!_" I never knew Gucci could be so cruel.

Alice pulled me toward a door and when we stepped inside I felt like I had just stepped into Wonderland. The walls were are vibrant green, and the shelves were sparsely filled, instead of mass quantities of items, they had one-of-a-kind pieces not only displayed on gold leaf, ornate shelves, each piece was displayed under a museum light. Alice went to the back of the store with the determination that she was on a very specific mission. Meanwhile I looked at a dazzling little dark green dress on the wall, and then jumped back from it in shock when I turned over the price tag that so delicately flowed from the hem.

Holy freaken' cow, that dress cost more then a semester of college at U of Washington!

I started to hyperventilate when I turned to see Alice. I wanted to warn her that we needed to go running from this place, that she had no idea what it was going to set her pocket book back. But then I saw she was no longer alone.

"Bella, you remember we introduced you to Peter last night, well this is his wife Charlotte. She owns this boutique," Charlotte held out her hand and I shook it graciously.

"I see you were admiring this piece. It is a new creation from an up and coming designer from right here in London," Charlotte smiled and gestured to the dress that nearly gave me a panic attack.

"Can you try it on for me Bella? I want to see how it looks on a person and not just sitting on a hanger," Alice smiled as she took it off the hook and handed it to me.

"No way Alice. No offence, because it is stunning, but if I accidentally ripped it or something there is no way I could afford to buy it."

"That is not a problem, Charlotte and I are quite accomplished seamstresses and could patch it up in no time. Dressing room is this way." Before I could protest any further I was pushed into a spacious room pointed with bright purple paint and modern light fixtures. In the corner was a chaise lounge upholstered with a modern graphic pattern. Taking my time to put it on so that nothing would rip, headed out of the room toward a stand up mirror that was situated just outside the changing room.

Alice and Charlotte gasped. I did too and knew immediately that I was far to plain to wear something so perfect. I felt like a pale canvas washed about by a bright flower, and immediately turned to run back in and to change into my street clothes. Before I could Alice stopped me and whispered to Charlotte,

"This is just how I envisioned it." Charlotte nodded her head in agreement and a small smile came to her lips, "Now I just need to find the perfect pair of shoes to go with it!"

I looked at them with a confused expression and Alice just nodded toward the dressing room indicating I could change back into my own clothes. As soon as I opened the door Charlotte fluttered in and swooped up the dress,

"I'll wrap it up Alice!"

I stood wide-eyed. I could not understand why Alice would purchase this dress and went over to whisper in her ear, "That dress is so expensive, and why would you get it when it is obviously several sizes to big for you?"

"Silly Bella, the dress is not for me, the dress is for you! It fit you like a glove, as if it was designed specifically with you in mind."

"There is no way I can afford that Alice, I have to get Charlotte to put it back!" I hissed under my breath.

"Not a problem, it is already taken care of."

"There is no way I can let you buy me something that expensive!" Now I was getting louder and did not care if Charlotte could hear me. In fact I knew she could because she answered back,

"Perhaps you should tell her who the designer is, Alice?" I looked dumbfounded, why would it matter who the designer is, the dress would still be out of my price range no matter what. Then I saw a small Cheshire grin grow across Alice's face. Did that mean—

"Alice, is that one of your designs?" she just widened her grin even more and nodded.

"So the American is a smart one. Congratulations, you are the proud owner of an Alice original."

"Are you going to accept my gift, or keep on about this business to acquire no new clothes?" she had a smug look on her face like she already knew my answer.

"I still think it is too much, you are losing a lot of money by giving this to me, I saw the price tag."

"Nonsense, as we visit the other boutiques you will see I have plenty other pieces out there. It is my mission to make you a posh women yet!"

All afternoon Alice tried to convince me to try on other clothes, but now that I knew her dastardly plan I flat out refused. I could hardly in good conscious accept the first dress, but the thought of having a wardrobe that expensive made my stomach turned. Putting a chronic klutz in expensive clothing generally equates into rips and stains. I felt a sense of victory when I walked away from the boutiques with only the bag from Charlotte's shop, but felt my stomach turn when we arrived back at the flat and a pile of bags sat on my bed.

Alice just shrugged, "I had them delivered."

Persistent little pixie.

* * *

After Alice's little escapade I tried to chalk it up as an un-Bella moment. I never let Renee, Charlie, or anyone for that matter ever give me gifts. I really did not like their incessant desire to force them upon me, "we are showing you we care," was always the mantra they would recite. If they really cared they would leave the stuff at the store. So after I went into a panic attack that caused Alice to go into an even more hyper state, I knew I had to get out of that room and be by myself for a bit. Un-Bella realized she needed to take baby steps in certain areas, this being one of them.

I decided I would explore the rest of MTH. I knew that I was going to make Alice take the clothes and accessories back, she couldn't have her way all the time, right? Hmmm—. That meant I still only had a week worth of clothes for my planned rotation. It would probably be good to know where the laundry room was located.

The first floor contained the small front reception area and more student housing, but nothing that looked like a laundry room. Then I remember looking at the welcome packet about the basement having a common area. I made my way down the stairwell and opened a door to find a long hallway with several dozen doors. Walking past the first one it had a small placard on a window looking into a small room, "Practice Room." Most of the doors in the hall had the same sign, one near the end of the hallway had a light on and I could see a violinist inside with her back toward me. Although I could barely make out the music she played, I could easily see that her entire body moved with the music. I imagined it was almost as beautiful to watch her create the music and as to hear it.

A couple doors down I found the laundry room with small stacked washers and driers. There was no place to purchase detergent, so I made a mental note to ask Alice of a store that sold some the next time I went out. Then I thought better of it, with as many clothes she has, there is probably no need to wear the same thing twice or wash them.

I began to walk down the hall to the stairwell when I heard the most divine sound coming from behind me. The notes came from a piano behind a door that was not soundproof like the rest of the practice rooms in the hall. I slowly opened the door to look inside a room with the lights off. The only illumination came from a small window that focused the beams onto a baby grand piano in the middle of the room where its player hunched over the keys, his back toward me. From the small amount of available light I could see his long thin fingers flutter over the keys.

The hair on his head moved against the beat and his silhouette reminded me of paintings of a young Beethoven. Suddenly the piece he played took a turn in its mood pulling in minor chords, but coloring the notes warmly and softly a massive crescendo pushed everything over the edge.

I had never felt so moved by a piece of music, but in this small space with this private concert, my body reacted in ways that I could not imagine. My pulse quickened, hand hands shook, and before I could stop myself as the last note hung in the air I let out gasp.

As soon as the sound left my mouth, the player stood from his bench. I could not see his face, but the light from the window backlit his body and for a moment I could have mistaken him for an angel. His voice was velvet, but the words that came out took me back to reality,

"Why are you in here!" The words were not a question but rather an accusation.

Introverted Bella wanted to run away, but Bella 2.0 mustered out, "."

"Bloody hell, can't understand a word out of your mouth," taking a breath to calm my nerves I tried again,

"I heard you playing when I was looking for the laundry room," I did not know if he could see me through the darkness, but if he could a blush had spread across my face.

"Get out of this room, that piece was personal."

"It was so beautiful, I just wanted to hear it, I didn't mean to offend you—"

"Does yor little brain not comprehend English? I said, get out you little twit!" He banged his fist on the keys and I could hear the anger fill his voice.

I wanted to turn and run, it seemed like the natural safe response. He was mad and wanted me gone, but all I had done was pay him a compliment. Heck, it wasn't my fault that he was playing in a room at MTH that anyone could walk into. I felt a venom rise in my mouth that I had never experienced before.

"You know what, fuck you. If you did not want any one to walk in on you, see this lock on this door. Yeah, this one right here. You should have locked it before you started off in your emo soul-searching moment. It must hurt so much to be the hurt misunderstood artist, boo hoo, grab a tissue. You are just an asshole." I turned on my heels and stretched my angry steps down the hall. I thought I heard light footsteps follow behind for me briefly, but I did not look back. I made it down to the end of the hall and slammed the door behind me as I climbed up the stairwell.

I fumed my way upstairs walking into my room. In five minutes I had gone from the my greatest high with a piece of music that had a greater pull on me emotionally then anything I had ever experience before in my life — to a gut wrenching low with an ass who with just a few words could rise the very temperature of my blood.

"Alice, I want to go out and get shit faced."

* * *

**Music inspiration for this chapter:**

**We Run – Sugarland**

**Cold Shoulder – Adele**

**Nowhere Man – (Paul Westerberg version from I Am Sam soundtrack) If this was from Emoward's perspective, this sound would fit the bill.**

**You Gotta be Strong – Des Ree**


	5. Pump It

**a/n: The characters are property of Stephanie Meyer. A quick thank you to the folks who have added this story to the favorites or updates, thank you!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**_Pump It_**

"So he ssssssays to me, 'Does your little brain not comprehend English? I said, get out you little twit! And then I—" ohh my beer glass has little pretty bubbles in it. How do they get there?

"Focus Bella, did you tell him off!" Alice was like a blurry blob when she bounces up and down.

"Oh, oh yeah. So I TOTALLY told him off. I swore and everything. It felt greeee-at," lookie here, Peter is coming this way. I didn't know he had a twin. Hmmm, I wonder if his twin is single.

"So are you guys feeling good now?"

"Better now that you brought your twin here. What's your name?" I was being bold. Very bold. I held my hand out and Peter's twin just crinkled his eyebrows. Did he not like me either? What is up with guys giving me the stink today?

"Bella, look this way. Have you ever been drunk before?"

"Nooo-pe!" Not only did I pop that "P", I made is sparkle.

"Alice, how are you feeling?"

"I feel amazing, better then amazing. I want to sing and dance and twirl! Peter twirl with me," and twirl she did. She grabbed Peter's arm and twirled him around like a ballerina. She twirls real good, "Peter, where is Jasper. I want to make out with him right now. Right. Now. Right now."

"I'll call Jasper to come walk you two girls home. Stay here, don't try to go wandering off." Peter and his twin walked back to the bar. Man, they sure have synchronized walking down to a pat – or maybe it is a twin thing.

"Alice, you know what."

"What Bella-Roo-Boo?"

"I like you. Like really like you. You are a cool cat."

"I like you too Bellaaaaa! Your like a sister. I always wanted a sister. Can mum adopt you?"

"I don't know," there is probably a reason why I couldn't be her sister but I didn't think of one. Oh wait, "Charlie and Renee would be sad if I left them."

Her eyes lit up, "We can trade my brother for you!"

"Charlie could take him fishin'!"

"Brilliant! You are my sister. Sis-TER!" We jumped up from our seats and started bouncing up and down really fast. I liked bouncing maybe that is why Alice did it all the time.

"Alice, love. As much as I love the sight of your lovely body jumping up and down, it is time to get you two ladies home." Jasper just popped out of nowhere with a pair of drumsticks. Where they his wands in disguise? Was he magical?

"Jasper are you magical?" He just chuckled.

"Only magical to Alice."

"Jasper I want to snog with you right now. Give me those lips!" maybe that was his magic for Alice. Wait, oh. Ohhhh, _that kind of magical_.

"Edward man, could you take Bella back to her room at MTH? I have a feeling she does not want to see me and Alice snog all evening," who is Jasper talking too? Wait a minute, whom is this handsome stranger hiding out behind him? His hair just screams sexy, I want to run my hand right through it right now, maybe I will—

Bad Bella, you can't just go up to perfect, sexy stranger man and put your hand in his hair. But maybe un-Bella could. Oh my goodness, his eyes are perfect, I have a new favoritist color, they look like little emeralds. Sparkly little emeralds. I think my panties just got wet thinking about them sparkle -- wait a gosh darn minute, he is carrying a guitar case on his back! Sexy stranger man plays guitar. He can have me right here and now.

Fuck yeah, he is touching my arm. Wait, he's pulling me out of the bar. Hmmm, this is not as fun as I hoped, he seems ticked off.

"Are you ticked off?" My verbal filter isn't working tonight for some reason.

Sexy stranger man just looked at me and grunted. Guess he is.

We passed a bench and it made me sleepy, "I'm sleepy," I'll make the bench my bed.

Wow, it's amazing, the bench is moving! It's an amazing carpet bench. No, wait a minute. Sexy stranger man is carrying me. Hmm, maybe this isn't so bad after all, he smells really, really good.

Okay, sexy stranger man is feeling up my butt. I kind of like it though, his fingers feel amazing. A fuzzy voice talked to me,

"Bella, wake up damn it. Where is your room key? It is not in your pockets."

I bit my lip, time to give sexy stranger man a show. I reached down the front of my bra and dug around trying to find it. Sexy stranger man's eyes got really big. I started to pout.

"I put my key right in here." I took my hand out and pointed at my chest, "I don't know were it is now." I felt sleepy again. Goodnight sexy stranger man, "Can you find it for me?"

"Fuck. Bella, I need you to try harder to find it. I cannot go searching," he pointed at my chest, "in there."

"Sure you can sexy stranger man."

"Focus Bella."

"Wait, do'h, I didn't put it in this side," I shook my head, "I put it in this side." This time I reached in the right side of my bra.

Wow, they looked like they multiplied, every time I grabbed for one it would move away, "Sexy stranger man, help me I can't grab them, they keep moving."

"Fuck my life," and then sexy stranger man cautiously pulled back my bra and carefully pushed his hand in. His eyes glazed over and it seemed like he was not trying to make contact with my body, "Found them." As he took the keys out he brushed my sensitive skin, and I couldn't help but groan from the sensation of his touch. I looked up and his pupils were huge. Maybe he had been drinking too.

Sexy stranger man opened the door for me and helped me to my bed. He even went to get me water and aspirin while I took off my pants and shirt but was too tired to do anything else but fall back onto my bed in the lacy underwear that Alice made me wear to the pub. I don't know why he growled at me,

"Bellaaa!" he actually growled at me! But he tucked me in anyways and sat with me for a bit, probably to make sure I wouldn't throw up. My new sister Alice would be made if I made our room stinky with puke.

The last thing I remember was losing consciousness to a magical voice that hummed me to sleep.

*************

My head is going to explode.

For some reason there is Advil and water sitting next to my night stand and I am not sure why. I have to get up and go to the bathroom, but oh my goodness, everything is still spinning. What the hell happened last night?

"Good morning Bella!" Alice bounced in the door and looked me up and down, "Is there something you need to tell me."

"How can be so chipper in the morning, the last thing I remember is that we were going drink for drink with each other and I now I feel like crap. Ergo, you should feel like crap too."

"My body's tolerance of alcohol is a blessing my sweet Bella, the real question is why are you only sleeping in that sexy little lace bra and matching thong that I picked out for you last night?"

"I honestly do not remember anything after our declaration of sisterhood," I looked down and groaned at my state of undress, "How did I even make it home?"

"Well, my dear Jasper took me back to his flat for some much needed lovin', and apparently my darling brother escorted you home. Are you sure you don't remember the rest Bella?" Alice jumped on my bed and definitely looked like she was anticipating some gossip.

"You don't think I did anything last night, you know, with your brother?" I started to panic; I could only vaguely see the details of his face, a pair of emerald green eyes appearing in my memory. But even they appeared a bit fuzzy in my imagination.

"In all honesty, not if you were as drunk as I think you were. Edward is no saint, but he would not do anything to a lady if she was that far inebriated. Although he probably was pretty tempted if he saw you in that get-up."

"Hey, don't knock the get-up. After all, you are the one that forced me to wear it last night."

"I know," Alice had that all-knowing smirk on her face that I could easily recognize even after just a few days of being her friend.

I kicked my lazy bum across the hall to take a shower, and when I came back to the room, Alice had picked out an outfit for me to wear.

"Alice, you know you make me feel like a five year old when you pick out my clothes. I can do it myself."

She sized me up for a moment and just muttered, "Mmmm, yeah—not really. Anyways, what are your plans for the day Bella?"

"I thought I would do some more exploring of the city since I'll be busy once my classes and internship start next week." Alice began to jump up and down clapping her hands,

"Oh Bella! Come with me to meet my mum! Father is volunteering at the children's clinic today and I know she would love the company. Plus, I've already told her all about you and this morning when she called I mentioned how you said you would be my sister, and she said it would only be proper if she met her daughter!" She shot that statement out in one breath, and how Alice was able to talk without taking in any air was beyond comprehension, "We can even invite my brother over so you can meet him properly."

"Hold on a minute little hummingbird. I am fine with meeting your mom if she doesn't mind me stopping by, but I definitely do not want to see your brother again. I think I've had enough embarrassment for twenty-four hours," I tried to hold an authoritative stance, but even standing a foot shorter than me, Alice stood her ground.

"Not Edward, right now he is acting like a kill-joy. I want you to meet Emmitt! He's a big teddy bear and loads of fun to be around. Plus he probably owns the only Jeep you will see on the streets of London. He could show us around to some of the sights in style." The grin on her face became impossibly larger, and I just nodded my head in agreement.

Alice called her mom to let her know we were coming, and we headed over to ISH to grab a quick breakfast. Shortly after we hopped on the tube at Great Portland Street and Alice navigated the lines. When we came back to the surface Alice explained that her family owned a small townhouse in Knightsbridge, but their main home remained in Scotland. I did not know much about the area, but Alice mentioned it would be a bit of a walk, and asked if I would like to ride in a black cab instead. Riding in a black cab is almost a quintessential tourist activity, but I also knew they were extremely expensive. I told her walking was fine because I could see the sites.

I was kind of glad I said we should walk, because I could tell this part of London was not rough and tumble. The buildings carried classic charm and decadence, and when we passed Harrods, I knew this was not a middle class neighborhood. Of course Alice jumped up and down saying the new window displays were lovely and we would have to go shopping there later. The further we walked, the more elaborate the homes and the cars on the streets.

"Just out of curiosity Alice, what is it that your parents do for a living?" I asked passing another chauffeured town car.

"Well, mum works out of her home mainly. She is an interior designer for some rather established individuals. Father is a surgeon, and after years of balancing everything is finally reducing the amount of time he spends at hospital."

"Balancing everything, like work and family? But aren't you and your siblings all in college now?"

"Yes, we all attend university. It is more of him balancing work, his volunteer efforts, amongst other things--," there was a bit of hesitation in Alice's voice, but I decided it was rude to pry any further.

Alice explained a little bit about Knightsbridge and its local attractions. She talked about Hyde Park, the controversy of the Princess Diana fountain design located in the park. The Royal Albert Hall was also located nearby and apparently a favorite place of her mom's, Alice mentioned begrudgingly going to concerts there while her brother, Edward, would make fun of her for her lack of music appreciation.

Alice also said we would make a day trip out of visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum, because the former Queen's wardrobe was apparently on permanent display there, and I quote Alice, "Her style and taste transcends time. Several of my first pieces were inspired by her." If she had not been staring off into space at the time with a wistful look on her face, she would have seen the frightened look on mine.

Despite Alice's obsessive talk about fashion, I enjoyed the walk and her giving me a local's perspective of the area. Just her pure enthusiasm made everything a tad bit more enjoyable, and certainly took my mind off my out of character behavior from the night before.

We came to a street with the most gorgeous townhouses and small, although rather perfectly manicured front yards I have ever seen in my life. There were Mercedes, Porches, and dozens of other luxury cars lining the road. Alice skipped up to a cast iron gate and opened it beckoning me to follow. Oh. My. Goodness. When Alice said her family was _well off_, I never thought they were _this _well off.

Alice led me up the front steps before I noticed the door opened without her pushing on it. We walked inside when I noticed a man in a suit coat and dress pants closed the door behind us and said kindly,

"Good morning Miss Alice. Your family is awaiting you and your guest in the parlor."

"Good morning to you too Riley, it is good to see you." Alice smiled at me and led the way through her parent's home. Although the exterior was in keeping with the traditional English feel, the interior was slightly more modern. The furniture did not perfectly match, but in each pieces eccentricity it pulled together the entire home. Each room we passed was light and airy, and as we neared the back the sunlight pouring into the room overtook my senses. It seemed that while Alice's family tried to blend the front of their home into the neighborhood, the back was their own expression with an entire wall of glass windows.

"Magnificent." The only word I could thing to say.

"Let me hug my daughter!" A gorgeous lady stepped toward us with her arms wide open. Looking at her I could hardly believe that she could have children Alice's age, she looked very young. Her brown hair swept in soft curls, while her pale complexion was adorned by the most radiant smile. Alice held out her arms to receive her mother's embrace, but watched as her mom brushed pass her and stunned us by wrapping me in a warm embrace.

"Mum, have you already forgotten who your daughter is after a couple weeks away from me?" Alice laughed as her mum pulled away from me after a moment but kept her hands on my shoulders and winked,

"Alice, you did mention you had a new sister after all. I just wanted to greet her properly. This must be Bella,"

"It is nice to meet you Mrs. Cullen."

"My dear, that is no way to great your new mother, while Mum may be a bit too much so early on, why don't we begin with Esme." She turned to Alice and smirked, "Now which of my sons did I have to trade to bring this charming woman into the family?"

Of course I blushed and Alice laughed at my response.

Esme gave me a tour of their home, and while she kept insisting that it certainly was not as nice as their home in Scotland, but I assured her it was more spectacular then any home I had ever been in and I was not just saying it to flatter her. Each room had its own personality, but the whole of the house flowed together into one flawless masterpiece. Esme's decorating was not just a design, it was an art. As we were ending our tour, Alice's cell phone rang and she excused herself to a different room.

"I left my favorite room for last, although I will say it has not received a great deal of attention recently," Esme opened the door and inside was a room lined with rich mahogany wood bookshelves and filled with books. But the piece that the room featured was sitting in the middle of the room, a stunning grand piano basking in sunlight from the massive window. I walked past the piano and saw a collection of books on the shelves that caught my eye. Lightly brushing their spines, Esme broke my silence,

"Edward would be shocked that anyone would just walk a beautiful piano like that and not admire it. But you, my dear Bella have taste. You went immediately to my Jane Austin collection."

"May I?" Esme nodded and I pulled one from the shelf. I saw the inside pages and gasped. I was holding a first edition copy of Withering Heights. I quickly placed it back on the shelves, "I am sorry Esme, I hope I didn't wreck it."

"Bella, books are meant to be read, not coddled. Now lets go see where Alice ran off too."

"She ran off to find me. I still get lost in this beast of a place mum," a booming voice called from the hallway. Esme squealed and ran up to hug the new visitor who I assumed was Alice's brother, Emmitt. Alice was dwarfed next to her brother with short brown hair and a dimpled grin. He looked like he could take petite Esme and bench press her with one arm. But it was his joyful laugh that made you instantly feel comfortable with him,

"So we found ourselves an American!" And just like his mom did earlier, he grabbed me in a huge embrace before I even muttered a word of greeting.

"Come along Emmitt, let us not squish poor Bella or she will never come back to visit me again." I realized I had been dangling a foot off the ground when Emmitt set me back down.

Esme lead us into the kitchen where she poured us some tea and Emmitt single-handedly wolfed down a plate of cookies. Esme scolded him before we started chatting. I told them a little bit about my life back in Washington State and my family. Alice talked about how she was "getting on" at MTH and what she planned on doing with her design work for the term. Emmitt regaled tales of the law apprenticeship he just began.

Esme excused herself for a moment and came back with a platter of the most delicious cordon bleu for lunch. I loved that they were such a relaxed family; despite the fact they could have behaved rather snobby with their wealth.

"Time to give the American a tour!" Emmitt stood up and then joyfully marched to the front door, "Hurry up maladies, your chariot awaits."

That was no chariot. Amongst all of the fancy automobiles sat a Jeep Wrangler in all of its glory, adorned with mud splatter caked to the side. Emmitt grinned making dimple craters as w all climbed inside.

"Where are we going first?" I asked.

"Emmitt's favorite playground in all of London," Alice responded and her massive brother started bouncing in his seat mimicking a move I had seen his sister do many times already when she was excited.

* * *

"I just sunk your battleship! Boom, boom, boom, boom, POOOOOOW!" Emmitt swiveled around in a gun turret, all the while making machine gun noises. Alice and I were behind him with the hand cranks that made the turret move back and forth. It took two of us to make the seat move with the massive Emmitt as the gunner.

"Now that we destroyed another enemy ship, can we go back to the steam engine room and climb on the pipes?" I wined. It was my favorite part of the ship so far, you could go up and down the ladders, across the catwalks, and shimmy between pipes. Alice was right; the ship was like a big jungle gym.

When Emmitt originally parked and bought our tickets to board the HMS Belfast permanently docked in the Thames River, I was skeptical that we would have a good time. The boat was decommissioned after being used during World War II, but now it was converted into a museum and open to the public. Everything was fair game, climbing around in the massive room below decks to load the ammunition, the captains deck, even the guns on the topside of the ship still moved around and showed you what London landmarks you could have destroyed at the distance you were shooting. It wasn't something I would have done on my own, but with Emmitt and Alice along everything was pure entertainment.

"We are not going back down there, not after the Asbestos warning that was on the other entrance to the room. They really should put that on both entrances. Plus it took me five minutes to scare those little children away from the gun turrets so we could play on here!" Emmitt could give just as good of a pouty face as his sister.

"Fine, but this time you are handling the cranks while Alice and I get to aim the gun," Emmitt growled, but reluctantly jumped out of his spot while we climbed in.

At first we moved around at a good pace and Alice and I giggled as we pretended to pick off imaginary targets in the distance. I thought I heard Emmitt mumble under his breath, "_hmpf,_ _they don't take this very seriously_," when all of a sudden we started turning really fast. Alice could barely hold onto her seat as I fell into her. Apparently Emmitt wanted to show off and he began cranking the gears exceptionally fast. All of a sudden we heard a "crunch, POP!" before the turret stopped moving and Emmitt cursed under his breath.

Alice and I hoped off and looked at the gears that were now slightly mangled.

"Emmitt Cullen, I cannot believe this. The Belfast survived the whole of World War II and then some, being a part of live combat, and you—you— are the one who fucking destroys it. What do you have to say for yourself?" Alice had her hands on her tiny little hips, but the stern voice was that of a reprimanding mother.

"How much do you think it costs to replace a battleship gun?"

******************

After Emmitt successfully destroyed a small piece of British naval history, I was sure we were going to spend the rest of the day with the staff trying to arrange maintenance for the turret. Surprisingly, after only minutes explaining to the staff what needed to be repaired, they dismissed us. When I asked Alice why they were so gracious and understanding, she kept it vague and said they knew her father, and had confidence everything would be taken care of appropriately. I just shook my head and followed them back out to the Jeep where we drove aimlessly through the city.

Alice and Emmitt pointed out some of the major sites of London to me, all the while singing obnoxiously to the music from Em's mp3 player. I was rolling in my seat when Emmitt and Alice gave me their rendition of the Black Eyed Peas, _Pump It_, their Scottish accents ringing through.

It had been a long time since I had laughed so much, and honestly it was not the change of scenery that did it. Alice, Emmitt, and even Esme just shared such a joy for life that I craved being around them, their presence was my own drug.

Emmitt dropped Alice and I off at MTH right before dinner and promised he would come and visit us again during the week after we gave him our best puppy-dog faces.

"Goodbye Sis," Emmitt gave his sister a hug, then turned and gave me a big bear hug, "See you later U.S. Sis." I returned the hug; it felt amazing to have a big brother, even if he built like a Scottish bulldog. After he drove off, Alice turned to me,

"It's about time for Jasper to be finished with his band practice, want to go retrieve him and find super?"

"Sounds good Alice," we started walking toward the Royal Music Conservatory. We walked in through a side door and down a hall where we were immediately assaulted by music from every direction. Instruments and vocals floated through the halls. Alice did not need directions from anyone, she simply walked in and down the hall and turned into another. I assumed she had taken this route many times before to watch Jasper practice. She stopped in front of a door and without hesitation walked in.

When Alice and Jasper referred to "practicing with the band" at the Royal Music Conservatory, I always pictured a classical band filled with clarinets, trumpets and tubas. Definitely the tubas.

I never imagined that it would be a flipin' rock band. Alice lead me down the row of the small auditorium that could fit fifty people at best, and sat down in one of the seats and motioned for me to join her. Jasper sat behind the drums and smiled and grinned at Alice, she returned the favor by blowing him a kiss.

I sat down and began to take in the rest of the band, who were currently jamming out an instrumental improv showcase, when I finally recognized the song choice and smiled. It was then the lead guitarist stepped to the center of the stage and agilely moved his fingers across the strings. He was tall and muscular, but no overly built. His hair was a bronze untamed sexy mess and a face with jaw line that models would die for. But that was not what caught my attention.

When he brought his eyes up he looked directly at Alice and smirked while he continued with his instrumental solo, but then he looked back up and looked right at me and I noticed his emerald green eyes scowling.

Emerald green eyes.

I panicked and turned to Alice and whispered, "Is that your brother?" Alice turned to me with a smile and nodded.

Fuck. Little bits of last night began to flood back. A bench. Being carried back in those arms. Him feeling up my butt. Me touching my chest. Him reaching in my bra. Him putting me in bed. In my freaking little purple lace bra and fucking little itty bitty thong.

The look in his eyes told me everything; he thought I was a drunken slut who wanted to be felt up. Well, looking at those fingers that looked rough and callused from hours of practicing guitar with steel strings—mmm, maybe the feeling up part was not so far off the mark. For just a moment I wanted to jump up on stage and as for him to forgive him for my behavior. I wanted to tell him that I had never been drunk in my life before, and this was certainly not a regular occurrence. I just wanted him to not look at me with so much anger in his eyes.

But then he had started to sing the chorus and a different part of my brain clicked into gear. A familiar voice filled the small auditorium wrenched with anger and passion of the lyrics of State of Shock,

"As I'm staring through this fire/it's too late to make you mine/so far from what we wanted/and as both our worlds fall down/we get lost and we get found/so far from where we started so far from what we wanted,"

Velvet voice.

"I've made mistakes that I can't erase/I've made mistakes/If I had the money honey would you love me, love me, love me/if I wasn't just somebody like me (like me)/if I had the money honey would you love me, love me, love me/if I wasn't just somebody like me (like me)/I've made mistakes that I can't erase/I've made mistakes."

That _damn _velvet voice.

"He's good isn't he," Alice turned to me and whispered with a grin that slowly started to fade when she saw my face.

"Alice, he's the asshole piano player," I said through my gritted teeth getting to walk away

Alice stood and looked at me with a puzzled expression, "He's the what?"

"Your brother is the asshole piano player!" I practically yelled at poor Alice. It was then that I realized that the song had ended and the band and Alice were silent.

I glanced back up at the stage and saw Edward starring at me, but I could not read all the expressions on his face. There was definitely anger, a bit of disgust, and an emotion that I could not understand, almost regret.

Edward really is an emo kid. He threw his hands up and shook his head. He made me want to do something I had never done in my entire life.

I glared at him. Then I flipped him off. Then quickly walked out of the hoping my little message translated the same in England as it did back in the states. Alice gasped, and I smirked because I knew it translated exactly as I intended.

My first lesson began before I even started classes. No matter what continent you travel to—men are jackasses.

* * *

Inside the International Student House during the day there is a small café upstairs where students come and grab a snack or study. It is where I meet Eleazar for my internship meeting. After supper the café turns into a bar and hosts entertainment such as small bands or karaoke. Nothing fancy, but from what I heard they serve the cheapest drinks a poor college student could find in London.

I made up my mind to go there, but definitely not to get drunk. There is no way that I would repeat the previous night—at least not so soon. The real reason I went there was too cool off a bit before I went in to face Alice. I certainly was not mad at her, how could she know her brother treated me like shit? No, I was mad right now and she did not deserve the brunt of my anger.

So I hid out in the back as a girl from the U of Washington group took the microphone to sing a song. I think here name was Lauren. She started in on the song, but I immediately prayed that she would stop. She tried swinging her hips and imitate Katy Perry with her own version of Hot 'N Cold, but it sounded more like a dyeing hamsters last plea to go quickly. Fortunately for her, she was too drunk to notice all the evil stares from the rest of the students.

Lauren continued to harass my eardrums, when I saw Mike, Jessica, and Angela walk into the bar. All three looked toward the offending noise and I could see they had the same reaction as me. Mike quickly ran to the bar and ordered drinks while Jessica and Angela came to sit at the table with me.

"So, not drinking tonight?" Jessica said looking at the empty table.

"I just came here to hide out for a bit. So how are you guys settling in?"

"Love all the free time, but I am kind of excited to start some of my classes and meet the professors," Angela took the drink that Mike handed her as he came back to the table.

"It all seems surreal, like I am going to wake up tomorrow morning and be in Seattle. It hasn't all settled in yet," Jessica nodded toward the karaoke, "You should give it a try Bella."

"Oh I don't think so. Crowds—not really my thing."

"Come on, after Lauren's little performance, everyone will look like rock stars," Mike grinned as he sat down next to me and slid drinks to me and Jessica, "Come one, be adventurous Bella," he joked with me with a chuckle.

Adventurous and Bella. Now that certainly was an anomaly. Not that it would be a life altering event to sing karaoke in a tiny little bar, but certainly not something I would normally participate in. Maybe it was time for a review lesion in "why not".

"You know I will, it could be fun," I shrugged my shoulders an took a sip from my drink.

"Awesome! I'll go grab the karaoke book," Mike ran up front and spoke to the guy in charge who handed him a binder. When he came back I scanned through the pages, and although the selection was pretty cliché and horrible, I picked a song and wrote it on a card to hand to the DJ.

"Now you guys, when I go up there to sing, even if I am so horrible that you want to put me out of my misery, at least try to cheer me on, okay?" I pleased and gave my best puppy dog eyes.

"Don't worry, we promise," Angela put her hand up as if she was swearing before I judge, Jessica and Mike joined, "We promise."

After a couple more folks went up the DJ called me over the microphone, "Next up we have Bella!" The three musketeers cheered from my table in encouragement. I walked up and grabbed my microphone as the monitor in front of me displayed the opening lyrics to Pink's, "So What."

Just then Alice walked in with Jasper and the rest of the band, minus Edward. I wanted to wave at her since I was feeling calmer, but then emo boy stepped through the door and followed the rest of the group to a table in back. Then the background music started up,

"_Na, na, na, na, na, na, na/ na, na, na, na, na, na/ Na, na, na, na, na, na, na/ na, na, na, na, na, na_" The cheering continued from my table.

"_I guess I just lost my husband/I don't know where he went/so I'm gonna drink my money/I'm not gonna pay his rent_." I glanced up and saw Alice, Jasper, and the band looking up at me looking slightly shocked. Shouldn't be surprised, after all I stormed out of the auditorium, and now the musicians were hearing me butcher a song.

"_I've got a brand new attitude/and I'm gonna wear it tonight I'm gonna get in trouble/I wanna start a fight_." Heck, I might as well enjoy this. I started to sway my hips, then grabbed the microphone stand and bent it forward while leaning in.

"_Na, na, na, na, na, na, na/I wanna start a fight /Na, na, na, na, na, na, na/I wanna start a fight!"_ Then I set the stand back up and pulled the microphone from it and started jumping like I was in a mosh pit and throwing my free hand into the air.

"_So what?/I'm a still a rock star/I got my rock moves/and I don't need you/And guess what, I'm havin' more fun/And now that we're done/I'm gonna you show you tonight/I'm alright, I'm just fine/And you're a tool so/ So what?/I'm a still a rock star/I got my rock moves/And I don't want you tonight._"

I figured what I lacked in vocal talent I would make up with awesome stage presence. Halfway though the song I noticed that my table was not the only ones cheering me on. Alice was on her feet bouncing up and down and Jasper was smiling and nodding his head. A crowd of guys on the side I had never seen before began to cheer every time I hit the refrain.

When I finished the tiny bar erupted in cheers, and at that moment I didn't care that they liked it because it was just a smidge better then Lauren's horrific karaoke attempt. I didn't care that they liked it because I acted like a maniac. When I finished, I felt, for lack of a better term, _fucking awesome_.

I handed the microphone back to the DJ and joined my table. Angela and Jessica gave me high fives, and Mike gave me a bear hug. Alice walked over cautiously; I figured she thought I was mad at her. The look of relief on her face when I smiled and waved her over lit up the whole room. I introduced her to everyone, and eventually Jasper made his way to the table with drinks for him and Alice.

"Bella, that was brilliant! Have you ever performed with a band?" Jasper asked taking a sip from his drink.

"Heck no, that is the first time I have ever sang outside of my shower stall," I replied laughing.

"Really, well you were amazing. If you ever want to jam, let me know. The band would love to try some pieces with a female vocalist that has a raw voice like yours," he replied.

"That's funny Jasper, you have a whole Music Academy with phenomenal singers. At least if they sing with you, the songs will sound decent."

"Bella, you must not hear yourself very clearly, that was really good. Angsty and bloody brilliant!" Man, Alice is toasted a second night in a row.

"Doesn't matter anyway, you said the band would like it, but I think your mistaken Jasper. There is definitely one douche – no offence Alice,"

"None taken."

"—that definitely does not want me anywhere around him, and I reciprocate the feeling."

"I am sure that is not true. You probably misunderstood Edward," Alice tried to reason,''

"And I quote, '_Does yor little brain not comprehend English? I said, get out you little twit!_' does not sound like a misunderstanding to me Alice, in fact it sounds like he does not want me anywhere near his music."

"Bella—"Alice was going to give me the pout.

"No Alice, Jasper. I was feeling good after the karaoke, lets keep the happy endorphins going and not talk about Emoward anymore." Alice snickered and muttered under her breath, '_Emoward, so true'_.

We all chatted for over an hour when I decided I wanted to get going back and rest after everything that happened during the day. Jasper offered to walk Alice and me back to MTH. Angela, Jessica, and Mike decided to call it a night too and left the bar with us. As we walked out I saw Edward up against the bar, something I would not have normally cared about, but I saw him leaning in and flirting with Lauren.

"So you are in a band. I should come in and sing with you, everyone back in the states says I have an amazing voice," Lauren batted our lashes and Mike, Jessica, Angela, and I all burst out laughing as we all heard part of their conversation as well.

"What was that all about?" Jasper asked as we stepped out of the bar.

"If that girl," Mike turned and pointed at Lauren, "Shows up at your rehearsal, make sure you have earplugs because an alarm clock sounds better then that harpy."

"Lets just say," Angela smirked, "She sang before you got here and my ears are still bleeding."

Jasper's eyes widened in fear, "Wait here, I will be back in a moment," he ran back in the bar and through the glass of the door I could see him walk up to Edward and Lauren and say something. Lauren looked made, and then looked like she was scrunching up her face and making painful facial movements. A couple seconds later both Edward and Jasper were sprinting for the door while Lauren stood at the bar with her hands on her hips.

Edward breezed past and headed straight for the exit. Jasper came back to us, grabbed Alice's arm and briskly guided us out the door. He looked like he could break out and hyperventilate at any moment. The rest of us followed closely behind.

"Jasper, love, are you alright? What did say to them?" Alice looked concerned as she searched his face for an answer.

"I told Edward I don't care if she is a good lay, there is absolutely no way she is every singing with the band. He tried to protest saying she was fine—I am guessing he was trying to defend her honor or something noble like that to get her into bed. Lauren tried to prove how good she was by "singing" a couple of lines from fucking Celion Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On.' and after we both lost all hearing, we bolted to the door."

We all burst out laughing. Mike patted Jasper on the back in condolence for his hearing loss and walked with Jessica and Angela back to their flats. Alice and I walked in quietly next to Jasper for a moment before Alice spoke up and broke the silence as we headed to the front entrance of MTH.

"Jasper, love," she said taking his hand and looking at him with her big doe eyes, "Thank you for cock-blocking my brother tonight."

"It was for the good of the band, love." They gave each other a gentile kiss, and then Jasper turned to me, "Don't forget Bella, if you change your mind about singing, you would fit in perfectly with us."

I just shook my head, "Your English charm will not work on me Jasper Whitlock. Goodnight."

I used my key card to open the door and waited for Alice to come up with me. I heard her whisper excitedly to Jasper, "Your charm may not work, but my persistence will!"

* * *

**Music selection: (Don't blame the first two songs on me, Drunk Bella likes them)**

** Honky Tonk Friends – Jason Michael Carol**

**The More I Drink – Blake Shelton**

**No Ones Gonna Come – Sondre Lerche**

**Pump It – Black Eyed Peas**

**Money Honey – State of Shock**

**So What - Pink**


	6. Sheppard's Bush

**a/n: I do not own these characters. But I have been to Shepherd's Bush  
**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**_Shepherd's Bush_  
**

_Running down an alley, footsteps pacing behind me. Darkness everywhere and only the muffled sounds of a wayward cab reach my ears._

_This time I am even closer and can see his eyes blacken and lips drawn up in a sneer. He mouths the same words that I have become familiar, "What do we have here? Don't belong in these streets do you," as always he pulls out a shinny knife and holds it with such finesse that I know he will never miss his intended target._

_I make a run to reach the end of the alley, but like every time I am at this place I am thrown back to peer into the eyes of this manic man. He grabs my body and slams it against the brick wall of the alley._

_"Feisty one," he sneers. I mouth the words along with him because they have been ingrained in my head dozens of times. And like every other time, I try to break away from his grasp, before he mutters, "Bitch," and takes the knife to my stomach. But this time he says something new,_

_"He's too late to save you, I'll make him pay for the pain he inflicted on me."_

"Bella! Bella wake up!" I felt something shake and immediately sat up. Alice was leaning me and shaking my shoulders, "It's just a dream Bella, and everything is all right."

"More like a nightmare, but I know that. Heck, I knew that it wasn't really when I was sleeping, but it doesn't mean that it still doesn't freak me out." Alice, bless her heart, ran over and grabbed some water for me and sat down on the bed. These stupid nightmares followed me all the way from Washington to London. I tried to clear my head and focus on something else.

Classes had started a couple days before. So far my favorite class was theatre, even though the credits from the class would not go toward fulfilling my major. My professor was hilarious, boisterous, and the epitome of an old English actor. Over the course of the last three evenings, he invited us to three different plays, even though we were not required to go for our class. Most of us in the class took him up on the offer because theater in London was nothing like we had seen in Washington.

Theatre in London is, for lack of a better word, invigorating. The patrons are posh and well dressed, and generally well mannered. In the evenings the theatres are alive, and we found cheap tickets to major West End performances for as little as 10 pounds. Popular shows draw the tourists in droves, but our theatre professor insisted that if a true Londoner wants to watch a new production every night they could find themselves in the pub theaters.

From how he described them in class, pub theaters hold roughly twenty to thirty people, and are usually in the upper level above the neighborhood pub. No more than bleacher seats or chairs scattered around the edge of the room, these small productions are where some of the greatest talent in England get their start in acting. After the production it was not unusual for the cast to come down and have a drink in the pub and chat with the local patrons.

My theatre class had traveled to the "world premier" of a small play production two nights ago, and now I found myself addicted to the intimate setting of these small stages. The production had only three actors, and even with fifteen of us from our class there, the space was really too small to accommodate us all.

Since I landed in London, I really tried to break out of my shell. I hung out with Alice and Jasper when quite a bit, and made a point with meeting up with my American group mates as much as possible, even if it was just for a quick lunch between classes. But the truth was, all this social interaction was making me exceptional exhausted.

So after my last class of the day left out, I decided I wanted to go explore something just by myself. I ran up to the ISH café and grabbed a copy of the latest TimeOut to check out if there were any plays that interested me. One caught my eye announcing the premiere showing of a new production in Shepherd's Bush. The note looked interesting; a love affair of two roommates who both longed for lost loves but willing to settle for each other. Melancholy in mood for sure, but I was not in the mood for something cheerful. I circled the play and dog eared the page.

Not to mention, the band Bush came from the area and that in its own right made my little toes curl in excitement. Just the thought of hunky Gavin Rossdale roaming the same streets made me blush.

Gianna happened to be at the front desk at ISH, and when I handed her the copy of TimeOut to ask for directions, she took it from me and printed out a map and suggested I take the Hammersmith line. I thanked her and headed to the tube station.

When the polite British voice announced, "We are now arriving at Hammersmith," I quickly exited the station and was greeted with a slightly different vibe then the regal feel of Regent's Park. The streets carried more of an indie feel then the neighborhoods my flat was on. Small independent stores lined the street, closed for the evening, while the small pubs were alive and glowing. From the directions, the pub I was looking for was only a few blocks from the Tube station.

Only two stories tall and painted in a Celtic green, "O'Neill's Pub" stood at the corner of two non-descript streets. Nothing about it stood out from the rest of the stores, but the downstairs was busy and folks inside were all filling themselves with a variety of brews.

Walking into O'Neill's I immediately felt out of place. My pathetic attempts at putting together an outfit without Alice's assistance stuck out in the thoroughly British crowd. My bright white American sneakers were the worst offender. Worse though was my American accent,

"Hi, umm—I was looking to get a ticket to the show tonight for 'Singleton'." The bartender just crooked his lip,

"Sure thing Miss you can pay here, that will be £5." I handed him a single note from my wallet and received a little ticket that reminded me of the ones I used to win at my elementary school carnival, nothing demarking it as a world premier performance. He nodded toward a stairwell at the back which I assumed was the entrance to the theatre, although it was not marked with any signs.

"Thanks," I whispered and put the ticket in my pocket. A couple of men at the counter turned to look at me and give a little smile. Their sudden attention was unsettling, and I settled into a small booth near the door and slightly in the shadows away from their glare.

Fifteen minutes before the start of the show when the door was to open, a group of three ladies walked to the door and headed up. Following their lead, I headed up the black stairwell that was lined with mismatching frames filled with black and white signed pictures of unfamiliar faces. At the top of the stairs the dark stairwell opened up into a small room with a small bleacher at one end.

I settled into spot against the wall to use as a back rest and waited while the group of girls chatted quietly with each other. My eyes began adjusting to the darkness when I noticed how simple, yet modern their clothes looked. I bet they went to the same boutiques that Alice shops at. I suddenly felt like a silly little schoolgirl trying to fit into this posh London life.

A handful of people entered the room and settled themselves on the small set of bleachers, and with the small room there was the illusion of a crowded theatre even though there were less than a dozen attendees. A couple minutes before the show a man entered the room to complete the audience. At first I paid no attention, just spacing out and starring at the wall, but then I felt someone glaring at me.

Taken aback for a moment I realized the man had sickening familiar bronze hair and the painfully piercing emerald eyes. When I caught him glancing at me he glared for a moment and then quickly turned his attention to his friend and chatted quietly. It seemed like too much of a coincidence that they would be at this tiny showing in the middle of nowhere in London. Before I could think too much about it, or try to get up and leave, someone closed the door to the room, and I assumed that was the signal for the show to begin.

The lone light in the room darkened and whispered conversations came to a sudden halt. Through the darkness I could feel two eyes glance my way before returning to the makeshift stage. A young woman and man entered and sat on a bed situated in the middle of the room and the lights turned back on.

Everything felt so intimate, with no stage lights the space felt raw and the actors more real. I could practically reach out and touch them. Instead of watching a play, I was sitting in the corner of their bedroom overhearing an intimate conversation. Overdramatic moves that would be needed on a larger stage to include the entire audience would be ostentatious in this space. Instead I could enjoy their small movements, wrinkles of their skin and soft whispers to each other that made me feel like I was eavesdropping on their conversation.

But in the back of mind I could not entirely focus on the play. It felt like too much of a coincidence that Edward would show up to an obscure play so far from ISH.

As I became lost in my thoughts, the lights came back on and I realized we had reached the intermission. I needed to step out of the room, even for just a moment and collect my thoughts. I decided to take the time to dart into the small bathroom attached to the room. It felt a little awkward, because the actors actually used the attached room as part of their set. Feeling silly that I had used the space, I walked out but quickly realized that the two posh women were in line behind me for their turn.

I battled inwardly for a moment if I should even stick out the rest of the play because just being in the same room made me angrier with Edward. Here he had to come in and ruin my fantastic night out exploring London. Aaagh! How could one man be so infuriating? I resolved not to let him get the best of me and walked back to my seat. He glanced at me again, but took up a conversation with a couple of the posh ladies. This newly familiar feeling of anger and frustration welled in my stomach.

The lead actor came in and flashed the overhead light switch on and off several times in apparent attempt to announce that the show was about to resume. One way or another I wanted to see this show, and although it wasn't very expensive, I did not have money to just throw around on this trip. With a bit more resolve I marched past him and retook my seat.

Seconds later the young man and woman returned into the room and continued their dialogue sparking with each other with their words.

"Is it wrong that I love him but think you will suffice," she placed her hand on his bare chest.

"In this world, 'you will suffice' is the most I could ask for," his expression showed that he felt the same. Part of me was taken aback when they moved in closer and collapsed back into the bed. The set suddenly felt too intimate for me, but I could not walk out either. She pressed her body firmly against his and they were lost in the crevasses of the sheets.

"Forgive me."

Everyone in the bleachers cocked their head at him. It took a moment for me to realize that the words were not from the actor but from Edward. Even though no one else in the room knew I knew him, I felt suddenly uncomfortable.

The two actors had a breath in their dialogue but continued on despite the disruption.

I planned to escape quickly and get back to the Tube station as soon as the play ended to make sure I did not miss the last train of the evening. Taking a black cab was expensive, and unlike the numbers that were always driving around my flat, there were surprisingly few in the Sheppard's Bush.

"Um—Bella, hold up," Edward pulled up behind me, "Could I buy you a drink?"

"Are you freakin' serious? No way." I said still moving toward the door.

"Come on, it's the least you can do for the chap who carried you home," he put his hand on my shoulder to try and stop me.

"I am going to the Tube station. There is no way I want to stay here and end up missing the last ride back to MTH."

"You are making it exceptionally hard for me to apologize Bella. I can get you a ride home if you miss it. The cast is chatting at the end of the bar, wouldn't you like to meet them?"

"Edward, your mood changes are giving me whip lash. First you yell at me, then you glare me down like you want me in a fucking black hole, and now you want to buy me a drink. The British really have an interesting way of making friends. I just want to make it back to my flat, I have a class tomorrow morning,"

"Just one drink," he pleaded. His face was softer now then the last time I seen him; his eyes were pleading, and I noticed dark circles underneath them that were not there a few days ago. They pulled you in and kept you there, "If not for me, do it for Alice. She has pleaded for me to apologize for my ill behavior. The least I can do is offer you a drink and introduce you to the performers,"

I wanted to turn him down. I wanted to storm out like I had days before. But I also wanted to make Alice comfortable, even a semi-truce would ease the tension she had been holding since I stormed out of the auditorium.

"One drink." Edward's eyes showed something – _relief_? He handed a bill to the bartender and handed me a glass. He began guiding me back toward the actors and the posh girls who remained at the bar chatting with them. When he went up to shake their hands and congratulate them on the performance, I thought they would shy away from him after his little outburst. Instead the ladies began to eye him up and lean in closer. Even the male cast member seemed to be hanging on his every word. It seems like he is a natural charmer.

After a few more pleasantries, Edward directed me to a small open booth and took a seat.

"Soooo…do you really have class tomorrow morning—or was that a ruse to get me to leave you alone?" Edward's eyes were quiet as he continued and he let his gaze drift nervously downward, "It is not that I want to pry, but I have a friend who is playing down at a pub closer to the flats," looking down at his watch, "he just started his first set."

"Umm…" I hesitated, "I really do have class tomorrow. If I really wanted you to fuck off, I think it is pretty obvious by now that I would have said it to your face instead of weaseling out of it."

"Oh—"Edward looked slightly dejected for a moment, but then cheered up and replied with a slightly cocky grin, "But you didn't tell me to fuck off."

"Don't get too cocky, I am only tolerating your presence for Alice's sake." It _was_ getting late, and I did have to get up early for class. On the other hand, traveling this late at night in a foreign city I just arrived in a few days before was probably not the most intelligent move. I would feel better if I was closer to MTH, "I suppose if it doesn't run too late."

Edward immediately eased his shoulders and with a brooding smile gestured to the door. I lead the way outdoors toward the Tube station, but once we exited the pub he was immediately at my side, his hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched over slightly to close the gap between his height and – my, well, lack thereof. We walked in silence for a few minutes before I broke the silence,

"So, do you generally go tracking after unsuspecting females?" He grinned and lifted one eyebrow,

"This would be the first time."

"Hmmm…" I stared forward not meeting his gaze, "So why did you really come here tonight, I am fairly certain it wasn't a coincidence?"

Edward took a deep breath while staring ahead for a moment before turning to me, "I saw you talking to Gianna. After you left I saw her toss a copy of TimeOut back on the table and saw the page marked for the showing tonight," he looked slightly nervous, "I asked Gianna about it and she mentioned that you were going alone. I knew Alice would be mad if she found out you were wandering around the city alone at night."

"So what, you are stalker now?" My instincts told me that I should have been nervous to be alone with Edward that I should scream and run back into the pub, especially after that statement. But in a strange way, I was comfortable with him. More comfortable then I had been since stepping on a plane and traveling 8000 miles from my home. After all, he already brought me home safely after I was drunk of my ass, and there would have been plenty of opportunity for him to take advantage of that situation. He shifted nervously next to me, "Edward, I was joking. I know you wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt me."

I heard him mutter under his breath, "_I already have._"

We walked the rest of the way to the Tube station in silence and I took my day pass ticket and slide it through and passed the gate. We waited on the platform and saw from the clock that the next train would arrive in about seven minutes.

Edward looked like he did not how to proceed with the conversation, as if his thoughts were being tormented by how blunt he had been to me earlier. In an attempt to ease his mind I picked up the conversation,

"So, what's your story?"

"That is a rather vague question."

"No, more of open ended," Edward just shrugged, "Come on, there must be something interesting in your life worth saying out loud," I tried to give him a smile and a joking tone in a rather ill fated attempt to get him to relax.

"Nothing really interesting, rather boring actually,"

"Fine, tell me something boring about yourself," I quipped.

"Alright," he took a breath and thought for a moment, "I ran around naked in my yard when I was two and my mum about had a heart attack because she was having a small party with the ladies who worked at my father's hospital charity foundation. Rather embarrassing actually, but not really interesting—_your turn_."

"I was the school mascot."

"What? You ran around in a costume in secondary school?" A slight grin turned up on his face.

"Nothing to be ashamed of!" I scoffed, "The old mascot graduated, and for some reason folks immediately thought of me as a replacement."

"Well, go on then. Tell me what you dressed up as," Edward's grin started turning wider.

"Well, that part is a bit embarrassing. I was a rocket."

"I do not see how that would be embarrassing."

"I never saw the outfit before I agreed to sign up for the part. It looked like…well, _it looked like a tampon_."

Edward started laughing whole heartedly. A hushed, "tampon," trickled out of his mouth as he gasped for air and continued on with his hysterics. His reaction should make me embarrassed, but the way his warm eyes looked back at me my only reaction was to smile. I just shrugged and turned as I turned toward the tunnel where I heard the sound of the Tube approaching.

The ride back toward ISH we were quiet, but not because we couldn't converse, but because a young man was playing his guitar and singing in our section. Edward whispered to me that he was pretty decent, and on the way out threw some money into his case and walked out. My eyes grew when I saw that he tossed in a £100 note, and hoped he was not trying to do it to impress me. Before I could think any more about it, Edward ushered me forward.

Back on the street we only walked a couple of blocks before we turned toward a pub wedged into a row of brick buildings. The planed glass windows looked original; some shared the mark of a glass blower's pipe. A dim light broke through their aged façade and a light music flowed into the street. He opened the door for me and I walked into a room that was astonishingly quiet despite being crowded to the brim. All of the patrons where talking in either hushed whispers, or not to draw attention away from the musician on the stage.

Edward waved and smiled at the bartender, good friends it appeared from their pleasant exchange, and led me to a small table on the side wall with seating barely for one snug up against other tables. He gestured for me to sit and then slid in close next to me.

"Would you like anything to drink?" He asked, being so close I immediately noticed how sweet his breath smelled. Trying not to be mesmerized by its intoxicating scent I whispered back,

"I'll have whatever you are having." Edward turned and caught the eye of the bartender, mouthed something and put up two fingers. Within moments two frothy mugs with dark amber liquid appeared at our table.

"Local ale—rough stuff really, but you need a true British experience," the dashing grin reappeared on his face as he pushed a mug filled with amber brew toward me.

"When you get home, look up Washington State and beer. I have a theory that they siphon it into our water supply to build up tolerance," I jeered back and took a sip, but he was right, this brew did have a rather wicked taste. I kept my face strong as if it did not have an effect on me, "So this is your friend? He is rather good," I nodded toward the stage.

It was true, the man on the stage did not look any older than either of us, but the lyrics that flew from his mouth filled the room with rich tones and exhilarating melodies.

"Meet Alec," there was a hint of reverence in his voice, "playing in pubs since he was fourteen. His mum does not know that, so be mindful if you ever run into her. Brilliant on vocals, but just wait until he breaks into a guitar solo—_that_ is something to watch. " As if on cue, Alec pulled away from the microphone and stood up from the stool he had been leaning on. His hands flew across his six-string in complex and delicate patterns before peaking into a manic maze of notes that intricately wound themselves around each other. I hardly noticed that the whispering had entirely stopped as all the patrons sat mesmerized by his music. My own breath stopped for a moment and I involuntarily leaned forward onto the small table drawing in every note.

When the guitar solo moved back to the melody and Alec brought his lips back to the microphone I finally took a breath – a deep breath to pull in everything around me. It was then that I noticed that the only eyes in the pub that were not on Alex were on me. I turned to them, trying to hide the fact I noticed him starring.

"I cannot even describe how amazing he is, I've never heard anything like that."

"You like the piece he's playing," a certain shyness to his voice emerged as he fluttered his eyelashes back toward his ale.

"It's fantastic! I never heard it before, did he write that?" The shock remained on my face at what I just witnessed. Edward just shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of the wicked drink and returned his face toward Alec.

When the piece finished the crowed broke into an appreciative applause, in recognition that they just witnessed something truly magnificent. I joined along whole heartedly, trying to commit as much of what I had seen to memory. A couple of ladies in the back even stood up and threw some whistles Alec's way with sly winks.

From the makeshift stage, Alex nodded and mouthed a few "thank you's" around the room when his gaze suddenly stopped at our table. For a moment he just sat there and squinted before his face broke into a schoolboy grin. He threw his head in our direction and moved back to his microphone.

"It looks like I have a friend in the room tonight. Would you mind if stepped out for a song while my good friend Edward fills in for me?" Edward tensed next to me, his eyes suddenly wide. I could not help but stare at him and wonder why he was hesitating.

"What's wrong Edward? You sing with a band and you can't even get up stage in a small pub," I nudged him.

"Come on now Edward, don't be shy. This certainly is not your first time up here!" Alec encouraged from the front. The applause in the room was encouraging, the sudden recognition came to me that the bartender was not the only person in the room who recognized Edward. Everyone in the pub recognized him.

Finally Edward pulled himself out of his shock and turned to me with a pained smile, "Don't laugh at me karaoke girl," Wow, now he was a killjoy. With ease he slid out of the seat and easily moved through the filled room to the stage where he took Sam's guitar. Sam chucked and slapped him on the back before moving toward the table in the back with the whistling ladies and grabbing a mug from their table.

Edward pulled the guitar strap around him and perched onto the stool. His eyes glanced down for a moment in thought before he looked up and around the room finally resting on me. For the ease that Alex showed at the microphone, Edward easily magnified that effortlessness. His tall body flowed onto the stage and as he strummed a couple times testing the feel of this foreign guitar.

"Seeing as Alec-boy commandeered one of my favorite songs to play, it looks like I am going to have to debut a new one for you tonight." A few cheers came from around the room, "I finished it up a week ago, and if you think it's a piece of rubbish, let me down easy and buy me a drink before you say so. I call this little ditty, '_Holding On_'".

"Ooooah/There is no time/no decision/I see you struggling/to find/Yourself/Chasing darkness/light falling from your eyes/Beckon me to follow and stay at your side/You stare at me/then you walked away/Hurt to breath/deep down inside

He has it all/so you see/Promises you the world/a promise he can't keep/Builds you up/ and shuts you down/Shuts you out/ tosses you aroun'/Deep down he has nothing at all/He is just waitin'/prayin'/ For you to crash and fall/All the while you hold onto/ hold onto

One speechless melody"

The last cord left the guitar lingering to lounge loosely around the room. The illusion faded and the faces in the room returned. Alex jumped onto stage during the applause and encouraged the crowd a little and the yells continued.

Alec bounced back onto the makeshift stage and shook Edward's hand. The room was still applauding his performance, so when Edward leaned in toward his friend and whispered something into his ear, I could not make out a word he said. The largest grin possible appeared on Alex's face and he turned toward the microphone waiting for the cheers to settle. After a few moments of trying to shush the audience he finally spoke.

"It looks like we have another guest musician in the room tonight. With a little appreciation, perhaps we can encourage Miss Bella Swan to take the stage."

Horror is too mild to explain the shock that came to my body. Revulsion, nausea, a sudden loathing for this man who just moments before I thought was a brilliant artist. Everyone in the room turned to my table where I now sat alone and started cheering to encourage me up much like they had done for Edward. Of course they would know who I was; the only name in the room they did not recognize would be attached to the only girl in the room they did not recognize. I muttered a curse word under my breath.

"Oh come now, don't be shy," Alec gleamed from the stage, mocking me and my embarrassment. The cheering from the room only grew louder.

I could run. I wanted to run. I wanted to shrink down to a tiny bug and squirm out the door into the gutter and be flushed far away from this place.

Then I snapped out of it and reminded myself of the grins from Alec and Edward. There was this joyful smirk on their faces that made this rebellious irritation rise from within me. They enjoyed watching me squirm. They wanted me to squirm. They instigated the squirm. But they did not know how brash and impulsive I had become since coming to London. One deep breath and a rejection of any shame, I stood from my table and wove my way to the front of the pub. Standing in front of the two cohorts looked around and found what I was looking for,

"Hand me the violin," the assertiveness in my voice prompted Alex to leap over and quickly bring the instrument to my hands. I turned to the two of them with my back to the audience and my face must have showed a great deal of anger because they both reacted and stepped back quickly. I whispered ever so succinctly, "The two of you will pay dearly for this. Now, get off my fucking stage."

"Yes ma'am!" Alec hoped away quickly and again found the table in the back and his ale. Edward more cautiously walked away, now the look in his eyes showed the caution and concern that seemed more appropriate. It was obvious that neither of them had expected this reaction from me. In honesty I had not expected my own reaction, which now made the situation even more pleasing. One deep breath and I greeted my audience with a dazzling smile.

"You will have to forgive me; I may be a bit rusty. I hope you don't mind if I play you a little bit of a fiddle tune I learned a while back." There were a few cheers from the audience in anticipation of what the newcomer would perform. I guessed a little bit of surprise as well when they heard my unmistakable American accent.

I hummed the "A" note that was trained in my body since I was a young student and tuned the strings while everyone in the audience waited uncomplainingly for me. Only the British could be in a boisterous pub one moment and sit perfectly patient the next. Once I was satisfied with sound, I began searching my head for a piece.

I pulled the violin back a bit from the microphone and pulled the bow across the strings keeping the weight light to create a smooth sound false harmonic in the high register. The familiar tune of "Tis the Gift to be Simple," quiet and unassuming for an introduction.

Bringing the violin in closer to the microphone I hit the double stops across the strings that made it sound truly like there were more then one violin in the room playing. In my head I heard the full symphony playing instead of my lone violin. I started to wail into it, in a way it felt free to let my hands float along the strings.

It had been so long since I picked up my violin and I had forgotten how free it felt creating something outside of me. Finding the balance point on the bow I began to spring it creating short staccato notes before jumping back into wild double stops and a more traditional Celtic phrasing of "Lord of the Dance". In the back of mind I could hear the audience begin to clap along as I brought the violin's melody back to the original theme before pulling it to an end.

The pub erupted to cheers, which pleased the spontaneous Bella. But I wasn't done yet, with the warm ale taking residence in my stomach I started to sing a cappella and slow.

"You'll have to excuse me I'm not at my best/I've been gone for a month, I've been drunk since I left/These so called vacations won't soon be my death/I'm so sick from the drink, I need home for a rest." I pulled the violin down and started to play cords on it like a guitar and picked up the tempo,

"We arrived in December and London was cold/We stayed in the bars along Charring Cross road/We never saw nothing but brass taps and oak/Kept a shine on the bar with the sleeves of our coats,

"You'll have to excuse me I'm not at my best/I've been gone for a month, I've been drunk since I left/These so called vacations won't soon be my death/I'm so sick from the drink, I need home for a rest. TAKE ME HOME!"

As I practically screamed the last part I pulled the violin up and started in on the brief violin solo. By this time some of the patrons in the bar recognized the tune and joined in,

"Easton station the train journeyed north/And in the buffet car we lurched back and forth/Passed odd crooked dykes and through Yorkshire's green field/We where flung into dance as the train jigged and reeled,

"By the light of the moon she'd drift through the streets/A rare old perfume so seductive and sweet/She teased us and flirt as the pubs all closed down /Then walk us on home and deny us a round,

"The gas heater's empty, its damp as a tomb/and the spirits we drank are now ghosts in the room/I'm knackered again, come on sleep take me soon/And don't lift up my head till the twelve bells of noon," I hit the chorus one more time,

You'll have to excuse me I'm not at my best/I've been gone for a month, I've been drunk since I left/These so called vacations won't soon be my death/I'm so sick from the drink, I need home for a rest. TAKE. ME. HOME!" Before bringing the violin back up and walling on the strings like never before. If these fuckers thought they were going to mess with the little American, they had another thing coming. A decrescendo out of the last note and I was feeling pretty damn smug.

The final notes resonated in the pub and the pub burst into applause. Hardly as riveting a performance as Alec or Edward had given, but the pure amusement factor of a wacky American breaking letting loose on stage must count for something. I was a little delighted that everyone seemed to enjoy it. A small chorus began to yell, "Encore!" when I left the stage to subdue the suggestion.

Folks began to give me handshakes, polite nods and general calls of encouragement, when I found my way back to the table I notice that there were several drinks lined up. Edward's face ran a gamut of emotions, from pure shock to amusement, all of which delighted me.

"I…I didn't honestly think you would do that. I had no idea you could play violin as well as you sing. I hope you can forgive me, because you were brilliant, Bella."

"Stop trying to flatter your way out of this, I am a wretched singer and you put me in an awfully awkward position,"

"That's nonsense. Even so, it wouldn't have mattered, the pure theatrics of it were enough to compensate,"

"I felt awful,"

"I am truly sorry. Alex...Well, he has a bit of odd wit."

"That would be an understatement,"

"But then you came up and performed brilliantly. Every time I think I have you figured out, you do something unexpected and change it all up again." Figured out? He was trying to analyze me?

"What are all these beers doing at our table?" I said looking down when the bartender came back to the table and plopped two more in front of me. I turned and tugged on the bartender's apron, "I'm sorry, you have the wrong table."

"No miss, this set is from that group over there," He pointed across the room and a group of three men in their early twenties gave a wave and a smile.

"It's their way of showing appreciation," Edward frowned at the men, but turned to me and nodded at the plethora of drinks, "See, they really did like you. You don't see them ushering Alex and I with a round of spirits?"

"So the English show their appreciation by getting you drunk off your ass. How charming," Which drink to choose from, they all looked the same, "Here, start in on these. You still have to make up for acting like an asshole, therefore your punishment is to consume as much alcohol as pleases me," and I slid a mug in his direction. He looked like he would argue with me, but after a quick assessment of my face and truly how much was on the table, he grabbed the mug and began to drink while Alice took his place back on stage.

The locals around us began to turn to chat with Edward and me; apparently my open mic performance gave folks an opening to start a conversation with the newcomer. They seemed most impressed with my ability to handle the drinks that were plentiful at my table. When I tried to give one away, they would politely refuse despite my pleas. While I was holding my own, I did get a bit more nervous every time I handed another one to Edward who did not seem to have the same Washington State tolerance that I was breed with. He became quiet during the conversations and withdrawn while I chatted courteously with my new admirers.

When the group next to us turned their attention back to Alex who seemed to be playing a local favorite, I noticed Edward glanced at the back of the room his eyes widen. I had thought he was tipsy, but with a quick and steady hand he pulled me toward a side door. Although his pull was gentle, the abruptness of his action startled me, but I followed along nonetheless. As we moved he whispered,

"There is someone here I would rather not see right now," and gave no further explanation.

The side door lead to a hallway and at the end he pushed through a larger door that exited into the street. Edward's walk was persistent

"What was that about?" The comment was snarky and came out more forceful then I was expecting. The adrenaline finally kicked in full force and I immediately knew I did not want to be pulled around, certainly by no man. I pulled my hand from his and he suddenly spun around.

"An old acquaintance stepped in, someone I would prefer not to talk too."

"I gathered that much, but why all of the theatrics. I still have a table full of drinks in there. And at the very least, couldn't we leave civilly through the front door?"

Edward clenched his teeth and continued his quick pace forward, and in my general sense of newfound spontaneity, I spun in the opposite direction back toward the pub door. Without even glancing behind I stepped back through the hallway and into the pub. When I entered the main room I looked around toward the back trying to readjust my eyes to see who the new addition was. Instinctively I knew who the acquaintance was.

She stood beside Alec at a table, drink already in hand. Even from a distance it was easy to see how distinctive she was, sleek blond hair draping down her back and seamlessly continuing to long legs accentuated by tight jeans. Bright green heals finished her foot in death defying heights that I certainly could never achieve without great peril. Her slender frame stood gracefully and the individuals crowded around Alec's table pulled toward her as she threw her head back in a throaty laugh. The table mates joined in and if it was possible tried to position themselves even closer to her.

I hardly noticed myself moving through the crowded tables closer to her, drawn in by a vague sense of intrigue. Everyone seemed drawn in, how curious that Edward wanted to run from her. Before I was truly aware, my comparatively plain body was at the table between her and Alex. She turned to me.

"Hello there," she said looking at me like I was a groupie trying to sneak into an intimate party. Regaining my composure I blurted out,

"Cool shoes. Death traps really, but nice," Silence. Dead silence. I had mastered the awkward conversation starter. Trying to salvage some credibility I turned to Alec, "Umm…anyways, just wanted to say I enjoyed the show Alec and it was very nice to meet you."

"Well, I think we can agree that you stole the show. I've never seen this place erupt like that, I wanted to ask if you wanted to come back next week, I have another gig on Saturday."

"Errr, thanks…but I think that was a limited engagement showing."

"I'll work on that, you can't hide talent like that. So, where did Edward head off to? I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my buddy."

"Edward was here?" The girl suddenly spoke, and her voice filled with surprise. She suddenly became more interested in me, but it was hard not to mistake the distain in her voice, "Did he come with you?"

"Well, yes. But he is gone now. He left very—_abruptly_. I did not catch where he was headed" I hoped she heard the emphasis in my voice. "Anyways, I was about to get going."

"Oh come now, have a drink with us," Alec smiled and it was hard not follow through with his request with his charm, "Tanya just joined us, why don't you pull up a chair."

"Thank you Alec, but I have to get up early tomorrow, and the folks here certainly helped me to have my fill for the evening. I hope you all have a good evening."

Alec just nodded and turned his attention back to the table, I had the feeling he was not used to being turned down by many girls, especially one as plain as me. With as little dignity as I had left, I walked out the front pub door and down the street to my flat.

A couple of stores down, and leaning on a window, Edward was waiting looking down at the sidewalk. I passed him by a few paces figuring it would be best if I just leave him be, but thought better of myself and stopped. Without turning around I heard him say in a soft hesitant voice,

"Can I walk you home?" I did not reply, I simply nodded and Edward was at my side within a second. The streets were cleared out and it was well after 2am in the morning. The silence was overwhelming but neither of us spoke the short distance to MTH. He made no attempt to come closer to me, but I could feel his stance hunching, and surprisingly protective. When I finally found myself at the door to slide my security card through, I turned to him and broke the silence,

"Why did you run from this Tanya girl?"

"Bella, that is none of your fucking business." I could almost hear Edward's teeth begin to grind.

"Fine. Then how about this," I put my hands on my hips and remained silent until he lifted his face so I could look him in the eyes, "So you want me to forgive you?"

"Yes, it would make Alice much more… _comfortable_."

"Why the hell did you act like such an asshole the first time we met?"

"I can't talk about that either."

"Well I obviously did something to tick you off. If I don't know what it is, how will I know not to do it again?" His hesitance started to tick me off. His eyes started to burn daggers into my own, and I just wanted to know what the hell kept setting him off. He pinched the bridge of his nose and started to pace back and forth across the sidewalk while I just glared at him.

"You are all over the fucking place!" I screamed at Edward. My blood started to boil, "One minute you are nice, the next you act like an absolute asshole. I don't know or care what your problem is, but you are the one who fucking followed me tonight."

"Bella, I—" I held out my hand to silence him, I tried to clear the air for Alice's sake, but it wasn't worth this.

"Edward, Just stay the fuck away from me."

Without warning Edward closed the distance between us and pulled me into him. Before I could comprehend what he was doing, he leaned down and his lips smashed into mine. One of his strong arms wrapped around my back to pull my shaking body into his, while the other snaked its way into my hair to pull me impossibly closer. His tongue begged for entry but I didn't want to give in. My body simply shut down and did not respond, until I heard Edward give a low moan and my resolve crumbled. I felt his tongue graze mine before it came back out and as i caught my breath he took his nose and rubbed it painstakingly slow along my jawline. My head instinctively fell backwards and he began trailing kisses in the sensitive spots along my exposed neck. Edward cupped my face with both of his hands and brought his forehead to mine before closing his eyes,

"I do not think I can stay away from you any more Bella."

* * *

**Short play list for this chapter:  
**

**What is this Feeling (originally Wicked cast recording) –Kristen Chenoweth & Idina Menzel**

**Home for a Rest – Spirit of the West**


	7. Duff

**a/n: This is officially the first time Edward has a say in things. I have to forewarn you, Edward likes to swear like a sailor. I've tried to talk to him about toning this down a little bit. He assured me he would keep it on the milder side. If this is mild, I wonder what crude would be. Ahhh, _crude Edward_…Sorry, snapping out of it.**

**The usual note, I do not own these characters, the plot however is mine.**

* * *

_Last time on Regent's Park:_

_Without warning Edward closed the distance between us and pulled me into him. Before I could comprehend what he was doing, he leaned down and his lips smashed into mine. One of his strong arms wrapped around my back to pull my shaking body into his, while the other snaked its way into my hair to pull me impossibly closer. His tongue begged for entry but I didn't want to give in. My body simply shut down and did not respond, until I heard Edward give a low moan and my resolve crumbled. I felt his tongue graze mine before it came back out and as I caught my breath he took his nose and rubbed it painstakingly slow along my jaw line. My head instinctively fell backwards and he began trailing kisses in the sensitive spots along my exposed neck. Edward cupped my face with both of his hands and brought his forehead to mine before closing his eyes,_

_"I do not think I can stay away from you any more Bella."_

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_**Duff**_

**EPOV:**

The first time I saw her she walked in on my time. She barged in on me at the piano and called me an asshole while I was playing some personal shit that I do not play for anyone. Then she had the audacity to scream at me. I probably fucking deserved it, but you do not just walk into a man's space and start yelling obscenities at him. I tried to follow after, to do what I am not exactly sure, but it did not matter because her skinny little legs were freakishly fast.

Of course, I had no idea what her name was until Jasper dragged me to Peter's pub to pick up Alice. When I saw her sitting there in an absolutely inebriated state my first reaction was repulsion. I could tell it was her even through the first time was in a dark room because of that voice. It was sickly sweet. Then Jasper had the fucking nerve to ask me to drag her sorry ass back to the flat so he could shag my sister, which is ten degrees of fucked up to ask a brother.

That was the first time I looked into those delicious brown eyes, all dilated and crap from the alcohol in her system. I carried her down the street and mixed in with the usual cigarette smell that came off of my sorry body, a strawberry fragrance mixed itself in. I smelt her hair and wished for the first time they made fucking strawberry scented cigarettes. Now that would be heaven.

Of course Bella could not just let me drop her off in her room and leave that intoxicating aroma. No, she had to hide her keys inside her bra. I almost lost it when I caught a glimpse of her hardened nipples as they spilt out of her flimsy bra. If she wasn't so inebriated she would have noticed that I had a raging hard on and maybe even a small piece of drool escaping from my lips. Then she had the audacity to ask me to get it out for her when her attempts were thwarted. Normally I would never pass up an opportunity to possibly feel up a willing girl, but when Bella asked me I grew nervous that I would lose the last of my control and take her then and there in the filthy hallway. It felt like I was trying not to set off any fucking fuses on a bomb when I evaded any contact with her skin. I had to look in the damn thing to see the little key tucked into the folds of the bra, and those perky little nipples kept taunting me yelling, "_touch me Edward, suck on me_". For one second I lost concentration and grazed her skin. Of course she let out this breathy gasp that made my hard on start pulsing, and I knew that shit was not going to calm itself down. With one fucking groan, she had me in the palm of her hands.

I knew Alice would be blood mad if I did not make sure her roommate made it to her bed safely. Of course Bella took it upon herself to try and put on some night clothes when I ran to grab her some water and aspirin from the bathroom. When I can back and saw her in that blue lace bra and thong – I started to hyperventilate. That girl was going to kill me. She finally settled into her bed and I made sure to cover her body up quickly with a blanket for my sanity, but she kept complaining of not being able to fall asleep. Against my better judgment I lay in bed next to her and started humming whatever came into my head. It placated her and I left she was snoring like a freight train.

I went back to my room and jerked off, because let's face it, my balls were getting bluer by the minute and that shit is painful. Every time I thought about her and those perfect chocolate eyes and that amazing strawberry scent, and those damn lace panties, my body reacted like I was a hormonal teenager. I lay in my bed for hours, but I could not get her out of my mind, imagining her yelling my name in pleasure with her sweet little American accent.

To make matters even worse, mum wanted me to come and visit with her. Father was at work again late, and I know she must be lonely if she was calling me over. Even I will admit I am not the most enjoyable person to spend time with. I expected to walk in and see her all lonely and needing company while father was out saving the world, instead she kept going on about how Alice visited and brought her lovely roommate. Of course I knew whom she was talking about even before she mentioned how beautiful her damn gorgeous chocolate eyes are.

"Bella is really quite sweet. Edward, if I give you a few books from the library, could you drop them off for her?" Esme did not even wait for me to answer before she ran back into the library and fucking skipped back carrying some of her favorite first edition Jane Austin novels and one of Emily Bronte's. My face must have dropped to the floor. Esme never, ever let those books out of her site, moreover out of this house, "Do make sure they get to her. If I am lucky, this will force her to come back and visit when she drops them back off!" And then I saw the fucking glint in my mum's eye. I knew she was meddling with something. If she really wanted Bella to borrow these books, she would have given them to her when she was here, but instead she calls me over out of the blue to visit her and asks for me to drop them off like a messenger.

"Mum, what is the real reason you would like me to take those over to Bella?"

Esme shifted nervously for a moment before putting on her smiling façade, "I do not know what you mean Edward. I just want to be hospitable to Alice's roommate and make her feel at home here in London." Lying through her teeth, that woman would make a horrid politician. I could already visualize her in the study she shares with father picking out wedding china for our wedding. When she slipped up and accidently called Bella her daughter, she tried to put it off as a joke she had with the girls, but my mum is so easy to read, she wanted her to be a real part of the family. If she did not marry her off to me, she would definitely try marrying her off to Emmett. I shuddered at that thought.

When Bella walked into band practice with Alice, I was shocked. When she turned to my sister and said in a very quiet theatre, "Alice, he's the asshole piano player," I stood there stunned. She hadn't mentioned anything when I carried her drunken ass home. Even though I knew she was pissed off at me when she flashed the bird, I grinned. I fucking _grinned_. She captured a little bit of my decrepit heart that day. It felt refreshing to have a woman not fawn over me to get in my pants.

Then Bella had to go and sing that tough ass chick anthem for karaoke. Even though the song is awful, she made it sound like it should be sung at a fucking stadium to crowds of thousands. That girl can belt it out. I had to take a shot to stop myself from running up and taking her there on the stupid stage dinky stage they bring out for karaoke at the ISH bar, but Bella deserved better than that. My mum taught me to be a gentleman after all. Instead I tried to distract myself by ordering another drink, when this American girl with a rather obvious rack wedged herself next to me. I tried to brush her off, but she kept pushing herself against me saying how she had this amazing voice, insinuating she should come and sing with our band. That was a fucking joke; there was no way she would ever step on stage with me – our band's standards were way too high for that crap. But I couldn't help but fantasize what it would be like singing next to Bella, holding her body close to mine and sweating together under the stage lights. I jumped out of my fantasy when I noticed the American chic's hand start to creep across my chest and toward my crotch. I wanted to give Jasper a fucking kiss for interrupting that shit. She started to sing that crap theme song from Titanic, and I took that as my cue to follow Jasper and get the fuck out of there. Hell, her harpy voice scared me so much I left half my drink on the bar, and I never do that shit. No one should waste a drop of good brew.

I acted like some lame stalker when I saw Bella down at the front desk at ISH talking with Gianna. She mentioned something about needing directions, and that shit worried me. Only a few days in London and she was traveling all the way out to Shepherd's Bush at night. Granted, that was not the most decrepit part of the city, but after a few drinks who knew where she would end up.

It wasn't like Bella was my responsibility to look after, but bloody hell; I had to follow her and make sure she was all right. I grabbed the TimeOut from the table that Gianna tossed it onto and opened it to the dog-eared page. Circled was a premier showing at an O'Neill's Pub. The address was listed below and I made my way toward the Tube Station. I was in luck when I saw Bella get on the train, and I was able to jump onto one of the other cars before the doors closed. When we got off at the station, the crowd pulled me back and I could not keep up with her. I finally made my way over to the pub, and of course the 'theatre' was fucking small and I couldn't hide in there and just check to make sure she was alright. During the whole awful production I debated whether or not I would talk to her afterwards, and when they took their last bows I took the chance to follow her downstairs. There is no way I could just let her leave. I wondered what the hell I was going to say,

"So I just happened to go to the world's smallest theatre production and _look_! There you were! Funny meeting you here." That was fucking lame. But for being a tiny little thing, she sure sprinted out of there like the place was on fire. I caught up to her downstairs in the pub thanks to all the drunk patrons filtering in for the night and clogging the place up.

When I had her with me I just could not let the night end and dragged her to see Alec play. She looked so good next to me in the pub while he sang some of the songs I wrote for him. I showed off a little for her, but she was the real shocker that night. I joked with Alec after my song that she had a voice on her, and he embarrassed her into getting on stage. Then she surprised me and took that shit and threw it back in our faces. I knew from the way she blushed that Bella is not a get-up-in-front-of-the-crowd kind of girl, but she not only went up there and sang, but she played too. I study with some of the best musicians in the fucking world, but the way she was so carefree playing that violin made me reconsider my no fucking Bella in public stance. I wanted her right then and there, stroking those violin strings with her small little fingers, and opening her beautiful mouth right over that microphone. I was fucking jealous of that microphone, and my dick was definitely jealous of that violin.

Of course fucking Tanya had to walk in and ruin everything. She gave me a panic attack and I tried to drag Bella out of that place, but before I even realized what was happening, Bella ran right back in there. There was no way I wanted Tanya to go corrupting my Bella, but I could not bring myself to walk back in there and drag her out. So I took my sorry ass and walked down the street, sitting in a storefront window frame and staring at the cracks in the sidewalk while my panic attack subsided.

Bloody hell, did I just call her _my Bella_?

I do not know when I became possessive of her, but damn, when she came back out and I walked her back to her flat, everything simmered in me. Fucking Tanya had to go and ruin a perfectly beautiful night with my Bella. Well, beautiful accept all of my stalker tendencies at the beginning. Even I could admit that shit was over the top. She wanted to know about Tanya, and her gorgeous little face crunched up in frustration when I refused to tell her anything about her. I could feel the anger rolling off of her, and then the streetlight caught the skin on the side of her neck.

All I could imagine was how tasty that skin would be, and I could not stop myself. I pulled her body into mine and felt those sassy little lips touch mine. My brain could not give those lips justice, they were even sweeter and softer then I imagined. I knew she was shocked at first, but eventually she gave me the access to her mouth that I so desperately wanted. Before I could let her go, I had to taste that neck and smell her. I dragged my nose across her jaw and was rewarded with the most stunning floral scent imaginable. Hell, there is no way I am ever going to be a dainty man, but this bouquet was one I wanted to indulge in every fucking day.

"I do not think I can stay away from you any more Bella," the words came from my mouth before I could even stop them, but I knew they were true. I knew I was a fucking lunatic who was obsessed over a girl I just met, not to mention been insulted by during the course of a few short days. But there was something about her very existence that drew me in.

I pulled back to look into those eyes of hers and read her face. Her head was still in my hands, but her eyes were closed, almost scrunched together. I wanted to take my fingers and smooth away those lines that crinkled between her brows. Before I could make another move, Bella stepped back and opened her eyes. They narrowed in on me, the glare alone making me step back. There are a lot of things that I thought could happen in that moment, but she took the one I never anticipated.

Bella took her arm back and punched me in the stomach.

And then she wound up and punched me again in the face.

I doubled over in pain. What the fuck? The girl that could not be more than a hundred and twenty pounds dripping wet just brought me to the ground. I cringed looking up with my good eye to see Bella step back and shake out her hand and move back up the steps toward the door. Damn, she knew to keep her thumb inside her fist; it made me a little proud she knew how to throw a good punch.

At least I knew she could bring me to my knees, even if it hurt like a motherfucker.

* * *

**BPOV:**

The rain started as I came above ground from the Westminster Tube station. I reached in my canvas bag to pull out my umbrella, but cursed when I realized it was still in my flat at MTH.

"You think its funny Big Man?" I lifted my face and glared at the sky in frustration. First day interning at Parliament and I will walk in like a drowned rat. I even felt a slight twinge of regret that my hair was flattened after Alice woke me from a sound sleep at 5:30am to make me look 'work appropriate'. The extra hour of sleep would have helped ease my bad temper on this dreary day.

Alice tried to pry some information about my whereabouts the evening before. I remained vague, mentioning I went to the theatre. I left out most of the details, especially how her brother stalked me and tried to suffocate me with a kiss the night before. I rubbed my right hand thinking about the memory and reminded myself to take an aspirin before I left the flat.

Alice had looked at the light bruise on my hand, obviously looking for a way to ask about the marks. I shrugged it off, "Got mad and took my frustrations out on an idiot."

"Seriously?" Alice sounded shocked and disbelieving.

"Mmhmm," I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders, walking out of the room toward the bathroom without giving more of an explanation. For some reason, I could not bring myself to tell Alice that I pretty much assaulted her brother the night before.

Just thinking about last night made me get flustered. Edward seemed to find a way under my skin and make himself right at home. My morning commute was punctuated by at least three guys groping me while waiting for the train, on the train, and exiting the train. And I thought the English were supposed to be all prim and proper.

My mood brightened slightly when I saw the famous tower that held Big Ben. The gothic style exterior of Parliament jetted out into the sky and I immediately felt silly for even thinking a bad thought when I had so many things to look forward to today. However, my self-imposed positive attitude went down the crapper when I saw a group of people protesting across the lawn from the Parliament building holding signs and shouting to everyone who was walking on the sidewalk toward the entrance. They chanted, but their words mumbled together with the traffic streaming between us. I could barely make out the word 'jobs' spewed across many of the signs.

I was a little nervous from the crowd and that probably was their intention. At Washington State students would stage campus protests, but that usually consisted of about twenty students in front of the student union handing out literature on the cause of the week. But this crowd looked angry, and I had images of them jumping the small patricians and sacking me to the ground like an unprotected quarterback.

I picked up the pace and went to the Cromwell Green entrance as stated in the internship packet Eleazar gave to me. Immediately upon entering the Parliament building I felt a bit of relief from being away from the crowd outside. I checked into a reception area, and was directed to a small lounge to wait while they prepared my security badge and to call down someone to direct me to the right office for my internship.

I sat in the plush chair of the waiting room, and my mind suddenly began to roam back to the night before. Those emerald eyes looking down at me filled with an emotion no man has ever given me. Whatever it was, it scared me to death. Edward is either on uppers or downers, but whatever it was definitely did a poor job of keeping his mood balanced right in the middle.

I was pulled out of my memory by a young lady with flowing crimson hair walking down the hall toward me. She was tall, lean, and obviously gorgeous even with the stuffy suit jacket and pencil skirt. She glided toward me in her three inch heels like she was floating on a rolling carpet, an act I could never pull off even in my wildest daydreams. She gave a half smile, which I suppose was meant to be welcoming, but intimidated me instead. Her eyes roamed over my body, probably assessing me in my drenched outfit and now frizzy wet hair.

"You must be Isabella." It was not a question. I nodded my head and extended her my hand. Instead of taking it, she turned on her three inch deathtrap heals and I took that as my indication to follow her. I had to practically run to keep up with her long gate, and she spoke to me without turning around, "You will be working with MP James Damon. He is a member of the Tory Party, and an astute man. His office is this way." I was pulled down several corridors and prayed that I would find my way back out without too much trouble. It took us several minutes before we arrived outside of a mahogany door with "Damon" written on a placard placed on the door. My guide led me in and walked through a small room and knocked on another door.

"Excuse me sir, I have Ms. Isabella Swan here."

"Bring her in Victoria," the crimson haired lady held the door open for me and I walked into a small office. The shelves looked meticulous holding old volumes of legal text and small busts of individuals I did not recognize. The light in the room was dim, with no window and only the ting of a beam coming from a small desk lamp. In the middle sat a small desk with a computer, the seemingly only piece of modernity in the room.

"Have a seat Isabella," a man who looked to be roughly in his thirties with blond hair slicked back away from his face motioned to a leather chair opposite to him. I sat down and noticed that Victoria did not come in the room with me, and the door was now shut leaving us alone in the darkened cave.

"I prefer to be called Bella," I gave a small smile, trying to be friendly to the man who would ultimately decide my grade for this internship.

"Bella," he rolled the word around in his mouth, "Such a pretty name. Hmm—well I suppose we should get to the matter at hand. I have been given a bit of your information by our internship coordinator. It mentions here that you are an English major."

"Yes, sir."

"Please Bella, call me James. I try not to be too formal when I not on the Commons floor conducting official business. It gives the public a more personal image of me – _more relatable_. Let us get in the practice of doing the same. It also appears you have no experience in politics."

I immediately blushed and prayed he could not see it with the dim lights. That is precisely why I did not understand why they would want me there in the first place. This was all out of my realm of expertise, "No, I am not very political at all."

"Do not be embarrassed Bella, you see I specifically asked for someone outside of the political arena to bring some fresh life into my office. The fact you are an English major is simply an added benefit," James sat back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap, "Right now we are working on improving our communications back with the area I represent. With the difficult economic climate, it has become increasingly important to keep everyone in the loop and open for ideas in progress. It is our challenge to make sure they see these benefits."

Since I knew so little about politics, trying to decipher what James was saying became difficult. Seeing my confused expression he continued on, "For the first couple of days, Victoria will help you become acquainted with the office and some of the finer workings of the House of Commons. Soon enough we will utilize your strength to start drafting some press releases and statements. Do not worry Bella, we will help you with everything."

Victoria came back into the office and took me for a brief tour of the Parliament building and showed me some of the areas I would need to know about. My favorite spot without a doubt was the House of Commons Library. We walked into the main reception area and then through a single door to the two story Reference Room. Certainly the books on the shelves were not those of a traditional library, but just the feel of the room made me feel so at ease. A small ornate staircase wove behind the shelves to a ledge that wrapped around the entire room. The Oriel room next to it was designed in the same manner. But the loveliest rooms in the library were rooms A, B and C. Large windows filled the length of the two story rooms and overlooked the River Thames. These rooms held small wooden desks adorned with green reading lights. Plush green leather chairs nestled themselves up against handsome fireplaces. Of course the thought crossed my mind that operating a fireplace in a library probably was not the smartest idea, but I assumed that they were probably not necessary anymore and only remained as decoration. A very tiny television sat on a shelf above the fireplace. When I looked at it inquisitively Victoria spoke,

"There are small televisions throughout the building that are turned on when the House of Commons is in session." A list of the speakers of the House of Commons was carved into the highest walls of the rooms, the oldest I could find was '1377 Hungerford.T.' Just the thought of all the history made me a little giddy. I hoped I would have the opportunity to come back to this room and explore it in length sometime. However, this time would be cut short because Victoria looked like she was bored out of her mind and ready to run me over with one of those big red double-decker buses London is famous for.

The entire tour I wanted to ask Victoria why she had a stick up her ass. Then I thought that the term might not translate well from American slang to English slang. Hmmm—_nope_, I bet it translated perfectly. Instead, I did not ask her because I had no idea what her job roll was and if she would be a part of determining my internship evaluation.

We finished up and arrived back at the office where Victoria pointed out my desk and told me, "Do not overdo it on the personal items, we do not want the office to be filled with duff." I made a mental note to ask Alice what the hell "duff" meant. After a few more unpleasant stares, she told me I could go and, "You might do well if you pay some mind to your hair." I gave her the middle finger mentally while smiling threw gritted teeth. I gathered that working with her was going to be worse then jumping off a cliff.

I was dismissed for the day and on my way back to the flat made plans to change into some sweats and do a load of laundry since everything I brought with me was now in the dirty pile. Alice was growing on me, but I was so glad when I opened the door and found myself in an empty room. Plopping myself onto my bed after changing out of my dress clothes I decided to pull out my laptop and write emails to Renee and Charlie. I pretty much copied and pasted my message from one to the other, but I included details about Alice, my first day at my internship, my first impressions of London, but made sure not to mention all of the crap Edward put me through. Although Charlie would probably be wearing a shit-eating grin if he knew that I punched just like he taught me too.

The phone in my room rang just as I pressed 'send' and I jumped back in shock. Alice was the only one who received phone calls to our room, so I was not sure if I should answer it or not. I took the chance figuring I could take a message if I had too, and was pleasantly surprised when I heard the voice on the other end of the line.

"Is Bella there?"

"This is Bella."

"Hi Bella, it's Mike," He paused into the phone for a moment, and hesitantly asked, "Hey, I was wondering if you haven't eaten if you wanted to check out a little restaurant down the road with me?"

"That sounds great Mike, should I go find Jessica and Angela or did you already do that?"

"Well--" Mike hesitated again, and I could almost imagine him cocking his head a little and giving his crooked grin, "I thought it could just be you and me – to, _you know_, know each other better?" Damn, that boy's English grammar needed some work, but he was nice enough to hang out with.

"Sure thing. Under one condition."

Mike sounded a little nervous, "What's that Bella?"

"I don't have to change out of my sweats," I heard him chuck on the other end of the line, "All the rest of my clothes are filthy right now and I have to do the laundry."

"That would be perfect Bells. I'll meet you outside of MTH is ten minutes?"

"Sure thing." Even though I knew that Alice would disapprove of my going out in public in sweats, I did not have any other options. But I did decide to comb through my hair and at least make that look presentable.

As promised, Mike was waiting outside of MTH for me with that cock-eyed grin on his face. We walked for a bit before I realized that he had slid his hand into mine. In many ways this walk was much more peaceful then the one I shared with Edward the night before. Everything was much less awkward and more relaxed. We chatted about the classes we shared with each other and our plans for the weekend. For the first time since I stepped off the plane I felt _relaxed_.

Mike led me to a little Indian restaurant down the street and opened the door for me like a gentleman. We were seated and both asked for some water from the waitress.

"I am starting to get addicted to curry," Mike admitted will skimming over the menu.

"I know, the chef at ISH right? He makes at least one meal of curry every day." We continued our easy conversation while the waitress took our order and came back almost immediately with our main course.

"So, how is life over at MTH? Where is your roommate from?" Mike asked while scooping some of the delicious curry into his mouth.

"Her name is Alice, and she is actually from the United Kingdom. You may have see a brief glimpse of her after karaoke at ISH. She is really cool, if you can get past that whole overly bubbly personality." I smirked thinking that wherever Alice was she was probably bouncing up and down at this very moment.

"So I joined the ISH rugby league." Mike said with a sly grin.

"Aren't you worried you are going to loose some teeth, I heard that is a pretty rough game." I looked up from my bowl. Damn, this curry was amazing; I wanted to take a bowl to go.

Mike shrugged and batted a hand at me, "Nah, I'm built to weather a little rough housing. We are going to have a tournament this fall at Regent's Park. They said it would happen during their annual 'Scrum in the Park'. It should be fun. Hopefully you can come and cheer my team on."

"Watching a bunch of guys beat themselves into the ground in an organized fight. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Mike chuckled and we continued on with our conversation. I told him about Victoria and her snide stick-up-the-butt attitude, and Mike dubbed her the "British Bitch" or BB for short. Then I told her how I thought she wanted to shoot me down after giving me the tour and we played around with her nickname until we finally settled with – _BB Gun_.

Mike and I paid for our dinner and headed back to MTH. I invited him in because he had not been inside MTH yet and I showed him my flat. The look on his face was priceless when he saw Alice's piles of designer clothes and shoes spewed throughout the room. Of course I blushed when pointed out my little blue lace panty set that was on the floor and commented on how she had some rather exotic taste. I let Alice take the fall for that one because I was not ready for Mike to be picturing me in lacy thongs quite yet.

Thankfully Mike became distracted by some pictures I had on the shelf over my bed, some of the only personal items I brought with me from Washington. I sat on my bed and he followed suit and we continued with our comfortable conversation. We talked about my father and life as the Police Chief's daughter. He talked about his family's store, I learned they owned Newton's Outfitters.

"You are kidding right? I worked at the one located in Forks when I was in high school!" we laughed at how close we probably were without ever meeting each other.

"Sure as shit, my dad is actually from Forks, but once he started to expand it into a franchise we moved to Seattle. I used to drive over to Forks all the time to drop paperwork off for my dad. I am sure I would have remembered seeing you if you worked there when I stopped by. You are kind of hard to forget."

I blushed at the thought of ever standing out to anyone, "Stop being a flirt Mike, I kind of _blend_ into my surroundings. Lets call it a teenage survival mechanism that I never grew out of—blending."

Our conversation was interrupted as we heard two very Scottish accents outside of the door, as Alice threw it back and skipped in not noticing Mike and I on my bed. She called back to the door, "Just come in and put the books on her desk. I will let her know they are from Mum."

"Alice, I really wanted to be here when I dropped them off. I um—have some specific instructions from Mum to give to her pertaining the books." A very persistent and familiar velvety voice filled the room from the doorway, but I still could not see him from the hallway.

"Just bring them in Edward. So, you did not answer my original question. How did you mess up your pretty little face—"Alice cut herself off when she turned and finally saw Mike and I tucked away on my bed. She looked a little shocked but quickly composed her face.

Edward walked in briskly and set the books down but stopped in his tracks when he also saw Mike and I on my bed. His left eye was still swollen and it looked like I had split is lip pretty good too. By the looks on his and Alice's faces you would have thought they walked in on us having sex instead of fully clothed and looking at photographs, "Umm—hello Bella," Edward said timidly.

"So Edward, you have some instructions on the books you needed to share with me?" I eyed him skeptically.

"What? Oh, yeah," Edward sputtered a little before recovering, "Esme asked that when you were finished with them that she would like you to come over and have tea again."

I raised my eyebrow, "That's all?" Edward just shrugged, suddenly unabashed by being caught lying to his sister about having explicit instructions that he had to relay to me.

"Well in that case, why don't you tell your sister how you received that bruised face of yours. And it looks like a split lip to boot," Alice looked at him expectantly, and I notice Mike was slightly intrigued now as well. I am sure he recognized Edward as the guy Lauren was hitting on at the ISH bar.

Edward just shrugged again, "It really was nothing, just a little misunderstanding."

"You don't like answering questions do you Edward?" I stood up from the bed. I turned to Alice who was watching everything from the sideline, "Alice, meet the idiot I took my frustrations out on." If it was possible, her eyes grew even larger then before and she gasped.

"I think I better get along then," Edward looked uncomfortable around the room, and I noticed his eyes widen as he glanced at my twitching fist, "Cheers Alice. Umm, goodnight Bella and –"

"—Mike" he tilted his blond haired head and gave a stiff wave from the bed. Edward turned hunching his shoulders and barreled out, closing the door behind him.

"Well, that was awkward," I broke the silence in the room.

"You know what Bella, I think I will head on out too. It's getting late and we have class tomorrow." Mike smiled at me and Alice as he headed toward the door."

"I really enjoyed dinner Mike, lets do it again." I said trying to leave things on a positive note.

"I'd like that. Hey Bells," Mike turned around before he stepped out into the hallway, "you could never just _blend in_." He smirked at me and I smiled back closing the door behind him.

I turned back into the room expecting to be jumped on by a tiny little black haired pixie. The look in her eyes did not disappoint. She wanted to pounce for information that much was certain. Her little body started to bounce in anticipation.

"Did you hit Edward?"

"Yes, I did. And for good reason." I was nervous to tell Alice what kind of deviant behavior her brother was participating in. I mean, sure I was her roommate, but this is her brother, "Alice, I'm not sure if I am comfortable telling you about this."

Alice looked at me slightly distraught and with a bit of panic, "Well why not, you're my friend? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, its not your fault. I just don't feel comfortable talking about your brother with you. You are siblings, and we've only known each other for about a week. Sibling loyalty kind of trumps brand new roommate loyalty."

"Now wait one bloody minute!" Alice's voice was stern and that little pixie was all up in my face, "You promised that you were my sister. Sister trumps brother any day of the week, especially when your brother is a punk like Edward. Now tell me what he did."

"Alice—" I let her name hang in the air for a moment before I pulled her over to my bed to sit down, "I honestly do not know what is wrong with your brother. The condensed version is that he followed me to the theatre last night, brought me to a pub, sang to me, made me sing to him. Then freaked out when a girl named Ta—damn, what's her name came in."

Alice looked down at her hands, "Tanya."

"Yeah, that's it. Tanya came in and then he hightailed it out of there. I left and he walked me home and then had the audacity to kiss me. Alice, what is wrong with him?"

"It's not my story to tell." A little glint danced in her eyes, "Wait, did you just say he _kissed_ you?"

"Yes, and then I hit him," I smirked, "Well, he's not going to tell me about it either, so that's the end of that then," I stood up from my bed and started to grab my pajamas to change into.

Alice grabbed the clothes from me and took my hands in hers, "I know Edward can act aloof, but he is not always a prick. Some really awful things happened to him, and to be honest I do not think he has told anyone everything yet. If only you could know how much that kiss means," she squeezed my hand even tighter and stared even deeper into my eyes, "He is worth a bit of confusion. I have a good feeling about you two. "

There was a deeper meaning in Alice's voice. Truthfully, for all the quips she gave to her brother, I knew she loved him dearly. But her premonition did nothing to make me feel more at ease. Every relationship I had up to this point in my life I kept the other person at a distance. It was safer that way to not allow anyone to hurt me. Jacob was not the first person I allowed in my life that betrayed my trust, but it reminded me how important that distance truly is to my sanity. I was already letting Alice in, I did not know who else I would want to allow that far into my life.

"Alice, I am only here for a few short months and then I go back to Seattle. I really just want to enjoy my time here."

Alice looked down at her hands and for the first time her demeanor showed her small stature, "Is that why you brought Mike here—because you can continue that relationship after you leave?"

"Oh Alice," I walked up to her and brought her into a hug, "Mike is just being a good buddy. But even the distance of an ocean could never come between sisters. Right?"

"That is good to hear. I thought I was going to have to beat up that little twat for taking my sis away." Alice looked up and smiled, "Besides, I still have time to convince you to stay here forever."

"_Alice_—" I scolded.

Dancing across the room to her messy side, "Oh Bella, if I don't try, you know my Mum will. She has become quite attached to you. She wants to even out the estrogen to testosterone ration in the Cullen family."

Thinking of Esme, I went over to the books that Edward brought over. I picked up the first one and almost dropped it on the ground. My hands were shaking as I saw it was a first edition copy of Wuthering Heights. My own worn paperback copy was in a storage box at Charlie's back in Washington and I probably bought if for a few dollars at the campus bookstore. I was no rare book expert, but I could only imagine the copy I held in my hands was worth somewhere in the five digits. Okay, I googled it and the thing is in the six digits. After Alice calmed me down from hyperventilating, she said we could lock them in the room safe, but that Esme would insist I read them before I came back to return them. I honestly do not think there is any family in the world that can compare to the Cullens—I am certain they are one of a kind. Who just meets a girl and trusts her with several rare books that are worth ore then Charlie and Renee's homes combined?

I carefully handled the book and brought it over to my bed, switching on my little reading light. The book itself seamed to even more real to me being in England. Catherine and Heathcliff's turbulent story engulfed me, and after two hours of sitting quietly and several tissues later, Alice finally announced that she was done with sketching new spring designs and was heading to bed. I put the book in the room safe and returned to my bed turning off my little light.

Before I drifted off to sleep, I remembered something from earlier in the day, "Hey Alice, I was just wondering. What does '_duff_' mean? I heard it from someone today and I'm not familiar with that term."

She mumbled and pulled the comforter away from her face, "Hmm, duff, it usually means something that is useless, junk, sometimes trash." Somehow I did not think that Victoria was just referring to tchotchkes on a desk then.

I drifted off to dreams of shooting a BB gun, while dancing through the English countryside. All the while a certain young man with emerald eyes followed never far behind.

* * *

_**Playlist for the chapter:**_

**Time is Running Out – Muse**

**Overboard – Ingrid Michaelson**

**Sleep On Needles – Sondre Lerche**


	8. Regent's Park

**a/n: ****Twilight and its characters are property of Stephanie Meyer. I am just taking them out for a little time in the park.**

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* * *

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_Last time on Regent's Park: Before I drifted off to sleep, I remembered something from earlier in the day, "Hey Alice, I was just wondering. What does '__duff__' mean? I heard it from someone today and I'm not familiar with that term."_

_She mumbled and pulled the comforter away from her face, "Hmm, duff, it usually means something that is useless, junk, sometimes trash." Somehow I did not think that Victoria was just referring to tchotchkes on a desk then._

_I drifted off to dreams of shooting a BB gun, while dancing through the English countryside. All the while a certain young man with emerald eyes followed never far behind._

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 7**

_**Regents Park**_

**BPOV:**

I woke the next morning before Alice and felt like I needed a little release. All the Edward drama, mixed in with the overwhelming feeling of Parliament, and topped off with Esme's desire to lend me books that were worth more then what it cost to rebuilt our hometown high school all weighted me down. I grabbed my only clean shirt left and tossed on my running gear to head out for a quick morning run around Regent's Park.

The air was brisk and comforting. My hair moved with the breeze and I started up my Ipod pulling my running mix. I was secretly glad that no one was around me right now because the tunes I generally ran too had a great beat, but made folks laugh at me. It wasn't like I was a musical coinsure or anything, but I didn't want to be judged on this particular list of songs.

Growing up in Forks I was always a bit behind the hip music scene. Charlie would only play oldies around the house, and every once and a while mix in some classic rock. I would go to school dances with some of my girlfriends, and while everyone would be jumping around screaming their heads off to what the DJ was playing, I just smiled and did a rather dismal bounce move to cover my lack of coordination. When a package arrived at our door on my fourteenth birthday, and inside was a CD player from Renee, I about peed my pants in excitement. Of course, I had no CD's to actually go with it, but I could finally tune the radio to a more contemporary station and not have Charlie change it on me.

Of course my new music-dispensing device did not help refine my taste. I listened to crappy popular songs through high school and most of college. It wasn't until the last year that I started to expand my knowledge and start listening to some local Seattle bands and a bit of indie music. But I still loved the crap-tastic popular songs because those were the ones you could really sing along too. The ones that are so mind numbing you can get lost in them and just keep pace while belting them out.

"Can't read my/Can't read my/No he can't read my Poker face/(She's got me like nobody)" My shoes bounced over the path and my pace was comfortable. There were a few other people out, but for the most part the park was fairly quiet. I belted the words out, thankful that I couldn't hear my wretched singing. Poor early bird British walkers would have to suffer through it through.

I felt him before I saw him. I glanced over my shoulder and saw tall lean jeans and a black hoodie coming toward me. To top it off he was wearing a pair of brown leather shoes that certainly were not made for a run in the park. Edward and his damn long legs caught up to me within a second and I snorted when I saw that he still had a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth, "You're crapping me," I muttered under my breath.

Edward pointed to my ear buds, and when I took the one out of my left ear he said in a strained voice, "Bella, …would you …mind …stopping …for a …minute …to talk?"

I shook my head and said over Lady Gaga on my Ipod, "I'm in the middle of a run, not now," and put my bud back in to continue my route. Figuring he took the hint, or his depleted lung capacity held him back, Edward was no longer at my side and I continued on my run. But seconds later over the sound of my Ipod I heard a wince and thud.

"Oh my goodness, he sounds like a baby…" I mumbled under my breath while glancing backward then coming to a stop. Edward was on his back grimacing. I sprinted back to his side, "Are you alright?"

"My arse, I hurt my arse cheek."

"You're kidding right?

"I wish I was."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I would ask for a deep tissue massage to mitigate the damage, but as we just met and you have already punched me _twice_, I doubt that would be proper."

"Well, lets at least get you out of the middle of the walkway." Anchoring my weight, I was able to pull Edward up and shuffle him to a nearby park bench. He continued to grimace, but I could not ascertain if he was still truly in pain or just milking my newfound attention.

"Edward, this whole stalking thing has got to stop."

He looked up at me and gave me a half grin, "If you want to be technical, you are stepping on my grounds today. I come here early to the park a few times a week to get away from everyone and work on some of my music." He pointed about fifty yards back, and sure enough there was a guitar resting alongside another bench and a notebook haphazardly thrown on the ground.

I snorted, "And do you go running every morning in leather dress shoes?" Edward dragged his hand through his hair and raised his eyebrows.

"Well, if I am going to be honest, I was a good runner in secondary school."

"Really." I eyed Edward suspiciously.

He looked down at his brown shoes, "My coach always said I was the fastest."

I eyed him suspiciously, "Do you still run?"

Edward snorted, "No, I stopped doing that when I started smoking."

"Well, I can see where smoking can reduce your stamina."

"Oh, there is nothing wrong with my stamina," I blushed at Edward's blatant attempt at a double entendre, "I suppose I should edit that to say the reason I started to smoke is the reason I stopped running." His hand immediately went to comb through his hair and he instantly turned nervous.

I looked at Edward, waiting for him to take charge of the conversation. It was him after all who decided to come gallivanting after me. But instead of saying anything, he shifted on the bench and looked off into the park. A couple of joggers passed by, but the path was still relatively quiet.

"Well…did you just decide you wanted to go for a sprint, or did you actually have something to say to me?" I tried to sound kind, but an irritated tone crept through. I knew Edward heard the difference because he shifted uncomfortably on the bench.

"This is not easy, I do not do it often. Ah, bloody hell, I'm sorry alright," Edward grimaced and slowly twisted on the bench to face me, "I feel bad about the way I acted and should not have kissed you."

In that moment there was nothing I wanted more then to jump up from the bench and run away from Edward. His apology appeared to be sincere, but his whole hot and cold mentality was wearing me thin.

"Let's just forget about it, okay? Like I told your sister, I won't even be here long enough to worry about crap like that," I nodded over to his guitar still hanging haphazardly next to the bench down the path, "Since you are so evasive with my other questions, I don't expect an answer. But what are you working on over there?"

Edward put his weight into his arm while readjusting himself, no doubt still nursing his injury. He smirked, "Well nosy girl, I am working on a new composition. Been stuck on it for a few weeks. Recently I had some inspiration."

The way 'inspiration' rolled off of his tongue, I had the sudden pull to take his mouth and attack it. I shook my head and scolded its mental deviation. The Edward I saw before me in that moment had a bit of the honesty that I recognized when he was on stage singing. It was as if he pulled the walls that he so carefully constructed down for a moment and crashed on through them into the open. But the moment he shared a bit of honesty, his little mental construction crew would come out and cement everything back up again. The brief sincerity he showed seconds before lapsed back in and what I deemed as his usual daft self reappeared.

"Come on, lets help you back to your guitar before some rouge bird flies by and craps on it," I said using my weight to try and pull Edward up. He grimaced for a moment before he made it to his feet. He hobbled back down the path and I tried to help support his weight. I had a sinking suspicion that his 'arse' was not as bad as he was letting on, especially when one of his hands started to drift toward my derriere, but decided to humor him for a few more minutes.

"Damn Edward, your guitar looks like it has been through the ringer!" We had leisurely made it back when I noticed the well worn instrument. The wood of the park bench that had been exposed to the elements looked in better shape then the guitar leaning against it. The finger board was well worn and the polish worn off long ago. Where the guitar pick would strum across the top of the frame a hole had formed and appeared to be growing. Even the metal tuning pegs at the top were showing signs of rust, and faded type of "Taylor" was barely recognizable at the top, "Maybe a bird crapping on it will make it look better,"

"Don't be making fun of my girl. A crappy looking guitar is less likely to get stolen."

"Your girl? Holy crap, I bet you even have a name for this monstrosity!" I could not hold back my smirk. By the sheepish grin on his face I knew I was right, "Spill it. What's _her_ name?"

Edward grabbed the guitar and put it back into its gig case, "If you must know, _her_ name is Mary, and she is one sweet little fucker," He stroked the across the strings reverently before snapping the lid shut, "And she does not appreciate the snide comments."

I leaned down and snapped the case back open whispering to the inside, "Sorry Mary. I didn't mean to offend you. I was just trying to get a rise out of your crazy owner," I stroked the strings myself and then looked back up at Edward, "She said she understands and whole heartedly agrees with me."

Edward looked at me with mock shock, "She would say no such thing!"

"What's that Mary? You bet, us girls have to stick together," I smirked at Edward while closing the case back up. He just grabbed it from my hands with a huff and mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like, '_yeah, she would say that._'

Since Edward was back at his bench, I figured it was a good time for me to continue on my run, but he had other ideas. His hand came up and grabbed a hold of my wrist.

"Bella, who was that guy in your room last night?"

"Mike, oh, he goes to the same university I do back in the states."

"Is he your friend?"

"Yeah, he's a real good buddy. I mean I just met him on this trip, but he seems pretty cool. Gone to U of W for two years now and never saw him on campus."

"So you will hang out with him when you get back to the states?"

I thought about that for a moment, so far I really enjoyed most of the people that came on the trip with me. Mike, Angela, and Jess were really good people, and I was excited to have some new friends when I went back home, "Definitely, it will be nice to have someone who I can reminisce with about our time in London."

Edward clenched his fists, but his voice remained even, "I should get back to working on my composition."

"Okay, well I'm sure I will see you later Edward."

"Sure, umm…goodbye Bella." He looked at me for a moment and then bent back down over his guitar and began strumming. Even after a few moments I felt drawn in just like I had the other night at the pub when he was on stage. His voice was so rich and welcoming, but I did not want him to get the wrong impression, so I threw my ear buds back in and continued on the path. One last glimpse at Edward and he had a silver pen in hand over a worn notebook.

I ran down the path for about half an hour before I turned around and headed back down the path to MTH. The park was filling with people and I wanted to get back and do some laundry before I headed off to my afternoon class. It was either do laundry or go to class without any underwear on. I was about to breeze on by when I noticed something small from the corner of my eye catching the sunlight from the bench Edward sat on earlier.

The small silver pen that Edward had been using earlier to write his composition down in his notebook lay between the cracks on the bench. I picked it up and noticed it was one of those Fisher Space Pens; I bought one for Charlie a few years back after I saw it online. Charlie just examined it and asked why I bought him a twenty-dollar pen when he could pick up a ten pack for a couple bucks at the store. I tried to explain to him that it was different because you could write upside down with it, but the novelty was lost on him.

I stuffed Edward's pen in my sports bra for safe keeping while I ran back to my flat. My muscles are feeling sore from several days of neglect. I could feel the sweat pooling on my back and across my face as I finished up the run with a quick sprint down the block. After a quick mental congrats for not tripping once, I swiped my card and climbed the stairs up to my flat.

I unlocked the door and was greeted by a very excited Alice bouncing around the room with her cell phone in hand. After a few "ahas" and an "absolutely" she glanced over to see that I was back in the room. I gave her a quick wave before gathering up my clothes to take down to the laundry room. She nodded back and continued on with her excited chatter while I sorted the lights and darks. After a few minutes Alice said her goodbyes to the caller, turned to me and started bouncing again.

"Oh Bella, I just received the best news!" Alice squealed bouncing over to grab my hands, "I am going to have my own runway show at the end of term in Paris!"

The little pixie started to hop up and down, with her excited I joined in, "I have no idea what that means, but I bet that's great news Alice."

Alice stopped jumping and put on a serious face, "Bella, have you ever seen a runway show? Do you know how important it is to a designer?"

"Umm, no. Sorry Alice, I'm more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl," I gestured to the clothes sorted at my feet that, "I honestly do not know much about fashion."

"That will not do," Alice started to shake her head, and I wanted to laugh and point out that coming from a small town like Forks, being fashionable was the last thing on most of our minds. Especially when no matter what you ended up doing to get dressed up, the constant rain ruined it anyway. But Alice's serious face made me hold back my comments and just shrug, "That's it Bella, you are going to come with me!"

"Umm…come with you to Paris? For a fashion show? I think you're wasting the experience on me Alice."

"Nonsense," Alice started flittering over to her closet and started rummaging around, "It is obvious we have a lot to do beforehand to get you ready for the event, but you have me as your stylist. I will not take no for an answer." Alice stepped back out and handed me a shirt and skirt.

"Do you need me to wash these too?" I took them and tried to throw them into my piles, but Alice snatched them back up.

"This is for you to wear today. I already took the liberty of looking in your closet, and there is nothing decent to wear. That includes the stuff to be washed."

"Thanks…I guess," I took the clothes and decided it was futile to argue with her. I had the feeling that any opposition would be a waste of breath. Alice went back to her desk and stated how she had to start putting together her best designs to begin production. I put the clothes she gave me on my bed to change into after I showered. But first I decided to take my dirty clothes downstairs to the laundry room.

When I was walking downstairs to put my clothes in the washer, I saw the room with the piano inside and immediately thought of Edward. I remembered I had his pen in my bra and snatched it out and ran back upstairs to find that in the ten minutes I was gone, Alice managed to cover the once clean desk with stacks of sketches I assumed were her designs. I peaked over her shoulder and noticed how imaginative they were.

"I need a coherent look for this collection. I am trying to decide if I want to keep it moderate but wearable, or go totally Avant-garde," Alice thumbed through a stack before tossing a couple papers onto the floor.

"Wow Alice, these are amazing. I liked the stuff you had in the boutique, but some of this stuff is so different, it looks like it could be a costume from another world," A sketch with a dress that wrapped around the model and continued into a spiral of material on the floor made me think of the opera singer costume from 'The Fifth Element'.

"The boutique clothes have to be wearable, but these, _these_ are art," Alice's are swept across the table and gestured to all of the sketches. I could tell from the detail in each one the time she spent putting together each design.

"Well, I don't know much about fashion, but I will say they look pretty darn cool. I am sure anything you pick out will be fantastic," Still holding the pen in my hand, I remembered what I was going to ask, "Alice, I think this is your brother's pen. I saw him this morning at the park, and he left it on a bench."

Alice stepped forward and took the pen from my hand and her forehead uncharacteristically crinkled. Her face looked slightly confused, a definitely departure from her usual bouncy persona.

"That's odd, he never leave's anything behind,"

"I figured since he was playing the piano downstairs that his flat might be here too? I can go return it to him if you give me the number."

"Oh, that's nice of you, but he actually doesn't live here. Sometimes he stays at Jasper's place, so he snatched an extra key card to get inside. I'll make sure it gets back to him," Alice quickly put the pen into a bag and took away her serious attitude.

"Okay. I am going to take a shower and change into the Alice approved clothes you gave me."

"I'm glad you finally see it my way," Alice smirked, but her face quickly became serious again, "Bella, did Edward look rested when you saw him?"

"I suppose, he was working a song. He must of got up pretty early to beat me there."

Alice smiled and gave a little nod before going back to her sketches. I grabbed the outfit she picked out for me and headed to the bathroom to clean up before class. Something about her question about Edward seemed uncomfortable to me. It was almost like she was asking a different question, but settled for if he looked rested. There was something more to her question, but I could not put it together.

The hot stream of water in the shower soothed my aching muscles and helped to relieve some of my tension. I stood in the water even after I was clean just to feel the heat wash away some of my unease. Just a short time ago I arrived in a foreign country, knowing no one. Immediately started acting out of character, getting drunk for the first time, and topping that evening off with a mysterious man. I was interning in Parliament for another interesting man who I could not quite figure out, and to top it all off I sang in public – _twice_. This whole experience was certainly exciting, but it was also making me nervous and I felt extremely out of my element. I could kick myself though, because that is exactly what I originally wanted, to be away from my comfort zone. Here I was in London, I could not regret my decision. No, I have to move forward and take on the challenge.

That is when I resolved to channel my Un-Bella and start getting back on track. Starting with my next scheduled time at my internship tomorrow. I would keep my head up and take on Victoria. She could not frighten me; I did not give her permission to frighten me. Now if only I could convince my brain to believe that everything would be fine. If only there was someone to help me out, even though James said he wanted someone outside of the political world to intern for him, I would feel a whole lot better if I knew something more about government. That would be one of my assignments for tomorrow; I would study as much as I could about British Parliament.

With that resolve, I turned off the scalding water and put on Alice's clothes. It was time to visit the ISH library and learn about government.

* * *

I walked into the Parliament building again and felt an immediate relief. The protesters were still outside and yelling to passer byes. I wanted to scurry past them, but my legs were still a little sore from the run the day before. Not to mention the entire idea of confrontation made me nervous, especially since I had no idea why they were so upset.

Well, I had no idea until I made the mistake of asking a gentle looking man on the sidewalk if he knew why they were mad. Apparently, he was also protesting with them, but thankfully he did not scare me of, instead he kept a gentle voice while he explained the protesters situation. From what I gathered, they were a group of folks who lost their jobs and as a result many of them were now homeless. The gentleman introduced himself as Riley, and explained how they wanted Parliament to step in and help ease their situation. I was going to ask the man a few more questions since he seemed to be the calmest person out of the lot, but he was shooed away by a police officer that made him go behind a protest barricade that was set up. Apparently it was all right to express their discontent, as long as they did it in the designated area.

Even though Riley seemed like a kind man, the entire situation still made me uneasy. However, my nerves were only on temporary reprieve because as soon as I entered Parliament I reminded myself I would have to meet with Victoria once again to start learning my internship responsibilities.

I pulled out my new ID badge and scanned it before walking through the security area. The entire experience hit me once again as something that was absolutely surreal. Three short months ago I could hardly imagine that I would be walking the halls of a country's seat of government. The student senate meetings that I partook in back in Washington suddenly seemed to lose their importance in the grand scheme of life.

The hallways became slightly more familiar the second time around, and I only lost my way once before a nice assistant pointed me in the right direction. I entered James's office and saw Victoria sitting at a desk near the back of the main room. I mustered a small greeting, but she did not return it. Instead she stood from her desk, never once looking at me and walked to James's door before knocking twice. A gruff, "yes," was audible and Victoria opened the door and finally turned to acknowledge me. With a quick nod I followed her inside.

"Isabella, so good to see you again! Come in and have a seat," James gestured to the same chair I sat in the last time I was in his office; "I trust you had a good trip in this morning?"

"It was alright. The protestors outside made it a little more interesting," I admitted.

"It is something you will become accustomed to," James's attempted to give me a smile, but it came off slightly fake, "In fact, their purpose for being here is actually going to be part of your first assignment. Victoria, would you please explain to Isabella what issue is about?"

Victoria gave him a smile, and turned to me, "The people that are gathered outside are concerned about losing their jobs. A good lot of them are in this predicament for a variety of reasons, where they live, returning veterans, export of jobs to less industrialized countries, and the like. It is James's main initiative this session to address this issue head on."

"That seems like a good topic, but what do you want me to do?" I said looking slightly confused.

"Well, the first thing will to become familiarized with the issue," James's cut in, "We want you to become well versed in the situation these individuals are facing. But we also want to be prepared for the fight we are going to face in Parliament. That is where you will come in Isabella. We want you to do something called opposition research."

"Opposition research?" I questioned.

"It is something we do with all the major issues we are facing," Victoria sat on a corner of James's desk and turned toward me, "You will find out what our opponents will argue on this issue and put together a position paper as if you were arguing for their position. This will help us to better prepare our counterarguments."

"Generally we put the best and brightest on this assignment because we want to have the most thought out arguments and presentation," James turned back to me, "You are obviously a very bright individual Isabella, and I am sure with your background you are able to articulate yourself very well. Your job is to prep me so when I go to the commons floor I am ready for any argument they make to stop us from passing this legislation."

"This seems like a rather large responsibility," I said hesitantly.

"No doubt it may be a bit intimidating, but Victoria has put out what information on your desk. Included is what we have gathered so far, as well as some previous opposition papers that you can look over to gain a feel of how they are drafted. Having seen some of your previous writing in your internship application, I have no doubt you will be able to take on this challenge," James nodded to the door in a sign of dismissal.

I went to my desk and in fact did find a pile of folders labeled with titles such as "job security", "national employment statistics," as well as a folder that simply read, "Opposition research". For the rest of the morning I read through everything that was given to me, trying to take as many notes as possible. I all but ignored the phone ringing or any other conversations that were going on around me.

The research was absolutely fascinating. There were reports linking the exportation of labor jobs to other countries with the increased rate of homelessness throughout the United Kingdom. Others talked about labor jobs moving away while there was an attempt at diversifying into high tech sectors that could potentially bring higher revenues. Everything was so fascinating, and it quickly became apparent that I was going to have to do a lot of research if I wanted to make my first assignment as thorough as possible. I even considered going out and interviewing some of the protesters to gain their first hand experience on the subject. If I could sit down with Riley and ask him some more questions, that might not be too bad. Now that I knew why the protesters were outside, they seemed slightly less intimidating to me.

I was so caught up in taking notes and combing through the papers that I did not notice when Victoria came up to my desk and taped the small clock on the side. It was well past when I was expected to be there, so just smiled and cleaned up my desk. I put my notebook in my bag in hopes that I might run into Riley on the way to the Tube Station.

Leaving the office, I started to navigate my way back through the ornate halls. The gothic style of the building still left me in awe with its arched ceilings and decadent details. It certainly impressed me, which I am sure was the intent. Awe the commoners so they know who is making the decisions.

I was so intent in my surroundings that I did not notice I was about to run into a very large brick wall. Well, I thought it was a wall, until it started to chuckle.

"If you wanted my attention Bella, you did not have to bowl me over!"

"Emmett! What are you doing here?" I was shocked but pleasantly surprised to see Emmett Cullen in the halls of Parliament.

"Well Miss Bella, I am gainfully employed here."

"But I thought you were working on your law degree?"

"What better place to learn about law then in the institution that writes and enforces them!" I laughed at his cheerful expression, and how boisterous he was in a building that was fairly subdued. Even though he was dressed in a tailored suit with gorgeous wing tipped shoes, it was hard to imagine him carrying on a serious discussion about politics. Perhaps his charm is what will make him a successful lawyer, that and his black-and-white outlook on life. It was obvious even after just spending a day roaming around the city that Emmett did not like to take things too seriously, but he also was a caring guy. After all, we could have just walked away from the broken gun machine when we were at the HMS Belfast, but he immediately went to notify someone and make sure he was held responsible.

Yeah, Emmett was a decent guy, and seeing him there made me feel immediately at ease.

"So what are you doing here Miss Bella?"

"I have an internship this term with an MP," That's right, Bella pulling out the lingo now, I was passed saying Member of Parliament, it made me sound like I knew what I was doing when I used the acronym.

"Really, which one? Maybe I know him,"

"James Damon."

Emmett's face dropped for a moment before he ran his hand through his hair. He pulled me out of the middle of the hallway into a small corridor behind us before he spoke again. This time he was not his jovial self, but he used an uncharacteristically serious voice, "Here's the thing Bella, is there any way that you can change your internship?"

"I don't think so –the university assigned me to him. If I don't do the internship I will fail the class, and I might lose my scholarship for studying here."

Emmett bent down and held me gently by the shoulders, "Is there any way you could change who you were interning for?"

"I'm not sure. I wouldn't even know who to ask about it or if anyone else would want me."

"Could you give me your internship coordinator's name? I know an MP who would gladly want a lass with your intelligence in his office."

"Emmett, what's the matter, you're scaring me?"

"Bella, James Damon is not a nice man. I should not be telling you this, especially not in this building. Do you trust me?"

"I think you are a great guy, but I can't put my grade in jeopardy. Especially since James hasn't done anything to make me think he was doing anything wrong."

"Will you at least hear me out?" Emmett looked back over his shoulder and down the hall, "Let me take you and Alice out for dinner and we can talk about this somewhere more private. My schedule is absurd this week, but how about Saturday?"

I nodded my head, but I was too confused to say anything. Before I could react a voice came from outside the corridor.

"Mr. Cullen, I see you have run into my newest intern. Do you need formal introductions, or are you already acquainted?" James looked at Emmett without emotion, but he turned to me with a warm smile before gesturing to the secluded hallway, "An interesting location for a conversation."

"Damon," Emmett glared at James and stood to his full height. If I would have known better, I would have thought that it was going to be testosterone fest, "Bella is a friend of the family, I hope you are treating her well."

"Of course, of course. She is a welcome addition to my office. A bright head on her shoulders for sure. I am surprised your father did not snatch her up from the application pool, he has always had an interested in fresh talent."

"Well, you are certainly fortunate he did not see her application then."

"Indeed. Please give my regards to your father," James turned toward me, "Good day Isabella—I do hope you are not accosted by anyone else on your way home," With that, he turned and continued down the hallway. Emmett looked on with distain and his tense shoulders were visible even through his suit jacket.

"I will call Alice and set up the details," He started to exit the corridor and walk in the opposite direction James had headed before he turned around and said softly, "Be careful."

The thick tension cleared as each man walked in the opposite direction. I had no idea what transpired between them to create such a scene. I was hoping Alice would know, and quickly exited the building hoping I would find her back at the flat.

On my way out I looked at the crowd of protesters who had taken up camp on the yard outside of Parliament. A few tents were now erected and sleeping bags were haphazardly tossed about the lawn. I could not find Riley in the crowd that still congregated, and hoped that he might be there the next time I came back. It was probably for the best anyways after the confrontation I just witnessed, I was distracted.

The entire Tube ride back to my flat I tried to analyze what I had just seen. It was blatantly obvious that neither Emmett nor James was found of each other. But the fact that Emmett flat out asked me to quit my internship without giving me a single reason why was unnerving, almost to the point of infuriating. What was it with the Cullen men and their flip-flopping attitudes?

I continued to over think the situation all the way back to my flat. I truly hoped that Alice could shed some light on everything, especially her brothers' erratic behavior. Although thinking about, the little pixie had her moments too. They were certainly a fascinating family.

I dropped the key to my flat on the floor, and bent to pick it up. As I moved to stand back up the door opened up.

"Thanks Alice I wanted to ask you—"

But before I could finish my thought I realized that it was not Alice opening my door.

"Hi Bella, I was waiting for you."

* * *

**A quick thank you to everyone who has favorited and alerted my story. It makes me warm and fuzzy inside.**


	9. Big Issue

**a/n: A whole chapter from Edward. **

**Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and its characters. The plot and details that lie within belong to goshdarnypooh. **

_*****_

_Last time on Regent's Park: __I dropped the key to my flat on the floor, and bent to pick it up. As I moved to stand back up the door opened up._

"_Thanks Alice I wanted to ask you—"_

_But before I could finish my thought I realized that it was not Alice opening my door._

"_Hi Bella, I was waiting for you."_

*****

**Chapter 8**

**Big Issue**

_**Aprox five hours before:**_

**EPOV:**

The morning started with a slow mist. I laid back in the grass and cursed the idea of falling asleep out in the open in London. Of course it would rain. Only a fucking idiot would think otherwise.

_Rain, meet fucking idiot._

I patted the ground by legs and felt Mary's case under my legs. Even if someone thought of stealing my guitar, one look inside that case and they would throw her back. She might not look like much, but her tone is to die for. Unfortunately, I almost did once.

One whiff of the air and I realized my body was past rip, in fact it smelt pretty darn rotten. No matter really, I reached this state quite often. Too bad the morning rain could not be counted as a shower. Instead it only sufficed to cake my clothes even more against my skin. The chill would be unbearable for most, but I was used to the cold. It was a good contrast to the heat I had endured for so long.

No time to mourn the wicked. Maybe I could scrounge some food from one of the guys here. What I wouldn't do for a fucking hamburger right now. I looked around and noticed that the crowd grew now that it was sunny out and the rain was falling away.

Something along the line caught my eye and I immediately fell back onto the ground staying low to the ground and pulling Mary along with me. When I felt certain she did not know I was there, I watched as she interacted with a guy I met on the streets a few months ago. He was always a pleasant man, when he was not high on whatever drug he could get his hands on. His name was something like Ryan, or Ralph, or –

"It was nice to meet you Riley," Bella looked stunning in contrast to the grungy protestors and darkened sky. Her pale skin looked delicious against the dark folds of her jacket. I could imagine my hands caressing the exposed skin at her neck, taking the delicate area right below her ear in my mouth.

Bella is perfect, and I am a fucking screw-up. To make matters worse, she almost saw me in this mess. Surrounded by a group of people so down on our luck that we were trying to petition Parliament for assistance. Bloody hell, it wasn't that they are bad people; it's just that none of them are really good enough to be around Bella.

The jobless often turned to many elicit activities, this group not excluded. In the ranks I spotted several known drug dealers, as well as a dozen druggies, several prostitutes, and even one of their pimps. To top it all off, practically the entire group was homeless. Not that any of them really would hurt anybody; most caused enough self-destruction that they didn't have time to harm anyone else.

But the fact remained, none of us were good enough to be around Bella.

She had that wholesome American girl feel to her, out exploring the world for the first time. Bloody hell, I was certain the night I carried her home from Peter's pub was the first time she had been totally drunk off her arse. This was probably the first time she was far away from home, away from her family.

I had been far away from Britain once, but it was partially not to my own decision. Definitely not a wholesome experience either. After that experience, I definitely would never be good enough for someone like Bella.

I watched Bella walk toward the Parliament building. She probably did not even realize it, but every old man entering the place was giving her a warm knowing smile. Her returning smile was kind, she had no idea what affect she had on every man within a thirty foot radius of her. She disappeared inside, and I wished for a moment that my caked on clothes were more presentable, because I had the fucking urge to follow her into that building. I walked up to the man Bella had been speaking to moments before.

"Hello –" I tried to remember his name, he looked familiar to me, "Riley?"

Riley smiled at me, a nice looking snaggle tooth protruded from his mouth, "Hi man, haven't seen you in a while," I looked at him for a moment and tried to figure out if I had indeed met him before, "So Edward, it looks like you are still playing guitar."

"Ah…yeah, always at my side," So he did know who I was, I wished I could place him.

"Hey, I just wanted to apologize again for that busted lip. I owed the bloke some money who made me take the swing. Guess he didn't want to get his fist dirty. Tried to take it easy on you."

"Thanks for that," As soon as Riley mentioned the lip the memory started to flood back. He was not the only one who owed that dodgy man money. He gave me the cocaine, but I couldn't get him the cash fast enough to pay him back.

Fucker followed me into an alley outside of a pub I just performed at and obviously hired Riley to help pound it out of me. Stupid to admit it, but I was knocked unconscious after the first swing. With all my training it made me feel fucking weak, I should have been able to put up a better fight. Hell, I should have been able to kill them and leave no trace of their bodies. Instead I was coming off of a cocktail of drugs and liquor when I stepped out of the pub, and after I got knocked out, I woke up the next morning lucky to only have a broken leg and three cracked ribs. I was a little upset over the lip though; I'm so fucking vain.

"No harm Riley," Couldn't really blame the asshole, he would have ended up in the same predicament if he hadn't followed orders. Every man for himself, or some shit like that, "At least you had the decency to leave my guitar around."

"That piece of shit, we took one look at it and figured it would be more effort to throw it away then leave it there. You still have it?"

I patted the case lovingly, "She still carries a tune. I can make twenty quid playing down in the Tube Station during morning commute. So what are you doing here today?"

"Honestly," Riley looked around then whispered at me, "Bree promised that we would get a sacked lunch if we hung out here for a few hours."

"Obviously word got around, I came for the same reason. Come out, hold some signs and chant every once and a while. Easy way to earn a dinner."

"Crimany, your mum lives in town don't she? I seen her face in 'Big Issue', she looks like she can cook. Why aren't you eating there?" Riley smirked and patted his stomach for added effect.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "I can't go to see my mum often, only if I know my father is going to be out of the house. He has been working out of there a lot lately, so I have to look for some other options."

"Bastard fathers. I'd kill mine if he hadn't already been shot."

"No matter, life's fucked up anyways," I had enough small talk with Riley, now I was on to why I really stopped over to see him, "So, I noticed you were talking to a nice young lady before."

"Yeah, she sure is, well…wow! Girls like her make you wish you were actually on their playing level," Riley smirked and threw a glance at Parliament. I could hardly disagree with that statement.

"So…what was she talking to you about?"

"You sure are fucking nosey," Riley laughed and gave a little jab in the shoulder, "If you must know, she wanted to know what the hell we are doing out here."

"Hopefully you were a little more polite about it."

"Yeah, yeah. I sugared it all up for the pretty girl. Told her if she need any more knowledgeable information about us to find me."

"She was real sweet and all, didn't even make fun of me for being homeless. Seemed concerned, unlike most of these assholes who walk right by and never pay us any attention," Riley gestured out to the sidewalk across the road where all of the morning commuters strolled on by. Looking all polished in their suits and dress clothes, most made a point of looking anywhere except at the group of inferior people standing a few fucking feet away. I wanted to scream at them, _my best mates died so you could fucking walk on that sidewalk and ignore us like we are filth_.

I was done being a freak on display for the day, and turned to walk away without finishing my conversation with Riley. Fucker busted up my lip; I could leave when I wanted to without being polite.

I grabbed Mary and swung the strap over my back before Bree stopped me. She gave me a bag with a sandwich and apple inside even though I was leaving early. Tried to give it back to her saying I didn't deserve it since I was walking out before I was suppose to, but she wouldn't hear of it. Stuffed it in my arms and yelled at me in a shrill voice to stop being a wanker. Then she turned all sweet when I accepted it and told me to come visit her at the center soon. The world needs more people like Bree.

Free for the afternoon, I decided on a leisurely walk up Whitehall and stop at Trafalgar Square to sit in the shade of one of the four lion statues. It was a great place to people watch and just blend in. It was still warm for a fall day, so people where out in large numbers, playing more attention to the surroundings then the random mess of a man hunched over a brown paper bag.

To say the food tasted good was a fucking overstatement. The sandwich was stale, and the apple was bruised beyond belief. I wouldn't put it past Bree to have salvaged this crap from a dumpster. Despite that I ate it happily. Free food was good food.

I thought back to what Riley said about my Mum's cooking. He hit the nail right on the head. She could cook better then any fucking chef in this city. Gordon Ramsey, watch out—Esme Cullen has your number. The only thing I could never eat of hers was the haggis. Her Mum would cook it all the time when we would visit her out on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Emmett and I would eat the crap, and then quickly excuse us to puke it all up. That shit is nasty. When we first bought the house in London, Mum tried to make it for us. That was when all of the Cullen men finally told her how horrid it tasted and how none ever stuck around in our stomachs for very long. She took the hint and the haggis recipes were forever banned from our home.

Nowadays, there were times when I was so desperate I would even consider eating haggis again. Who am I kidding, I would rather starve to death.

I thought about taking out Mary and playing a few songs to catch some loose change of the passerby's. It looked like there were some tourists out, and they usually gave good money. My theory was that the ones from small towns were the most skeptical about giving money because they assumed I would use it to buy beer and drugs. The people from larger cities, probably thought the same thing but figured it didn't matter and tossed a few coins in anyways.

I pulled her out and tuned her up a bit. I wasn't a fool, even though my clothes looked like crap, and my mop of a hair was greasy, I knew I had a pretty face. Throw on a sweet smile and the girls will come a flocking.

Mary was still in tune and I searched my head for a song to play. Upbeat songs brought in more cash. No one really wanted to hear the slow, painful music coming from someone who looked down on their luck. I usually only played that shit late at night when folks were coming out of the pubs and would empty their change no matter what you played. That was the time the music was about me. But when it was busy out, the music was about them.

Before I could play any of the usual money makers, I had to get one song off my chest. It had been stuck in my head for the last several days, and although it wasn't finished I had to get it out. It was the same song I was writing at the park when Bella ran by me the day before.

I was having a hard time writing the ending, when I saw Bella's gorgeous body coming down the path. The way her hair swept back and forth and her long tone legs hit the pavement I couldn't stop myself. The way she sang that crappy popular song from that wacked out American singer. I had to speak to her.

Bella caught me off guard when she actually stopped to talk to me. Okay, so I faked an injury to stop her, but she came back to check on me. The only thing I could think of was to apologize. I thought it was pretty fucking heroic of me since I have not apologized to anyone for my dumbass actions for years. But I sat there and apologized as she looked after me.

Then I had to go ruin my good mood by asking her about that fucker Mike. It was obvious that he wanted to get in Bella's pants the moment I saw him in their room. He was clean polished and being all gentlemanly, but anyone could see it in his eyes. He wanted Bella, and in theory he is the kind of guy she should have. Someone who is educated, acts well behaved, and has, well…_a future_.

Even if I left Bella at the park on a bad note for me, she helped me write a few good ones. I finished up the song, but now I could not get it out of my fucking head. So I put my pick to the strings and sang it out to the strangers in Trafalgar Square.

The piece wasn't so much about vocals, but the rise and fall of the guitar notes. It started off smooth and slow, which reminded me of Bella's perfect body and sweet voice. Then it picked up in a fury, like what she unleashed to me in the basement of MTH when she caught me playing piano, and again in our band practice. The fury lead way to excitement as I thought of when I kissed her. Her slap echoed in a mad thump against the wood of my guitar before finishing in a swell of hope. The final cords turned minor, as did my realization that I could never be with someone like Bella. The slow pains of my heart played out as the last notes faded into the crowed square.

I had closed my eyes when I played the piece, something I never do since I usually have to be vigilant of some fucker coming along and stilling my case with loose change dropped inside. But I let it go for this one moment, and when I opened them a small crowd had formed and was clapping. My case was not only filled with more notes then usual, it was filled with higher denomination notes. It seemed like the mere thought of Bella had an affect on people even when she was only present in song.

An older gentleman came and threw a couple quid into my case and winked, "Must be some girl," then he went over to a grey haired woman giving her a quick kiss and walking away.

Since the crowd was still there I played a few more upbeat popular songs and some began to join in. I quickly wrapped things up when I saw a bobbie coming across the road toward me. I really did not feel using the money I just earned to pay off a fine.

I decided to head on to visit Alice and see if I could take a shower at her place and get cleaned since I knew Bella was out. I was also curious to ask Alice if she knew what Bella was doing at Parliament. She was dressed quite nicely and obviously was not just taking a tour of the building.

I cursed my stupid brown leather shoes after I walked several more miles up to Regent's Park. My feet were sore, and since my socks were still wet from the night rain, the additional friction created a new set of blisters on my already callused feet. I ended up pulling my shoes and socks off and walking the last half-mile barefoot.

The sight of MTH was inviting. I slipped the borrowed key card into the door and let myself in. The door watchman did not even give me a passing glance; I was there so often he probably thought I was a resident. Running up the stairs I prayed that Alice was in her flat right now. If not, I could always go downstairs and punch away at the piano.

I knocked on Alice's door and heard her ever so light footsteps dance toward the door. She paused for a moment to check through the peephole, making me happy. I practically screamed at her the last time she failed to do that reminding her of the psychos that hung out in the streets of London and my first hand experience with many of them and how she was practically inviting them in to attack her.

A brief moment later the door swung open and she jumped out about to hug me before recoiling back.

"Sorry Edward, no hug today. You are filthy and I just bought this shirt," Alice smiled and I walked with her into the small flat, "So what brings you here today? Check-in isn't for a few days."

"Well…I was kind of hoping my favorite little sister would let me hang out here this afternoon and maybe take a shower?" She was right; I didn't need to check in until Saturday. My Mum and Alice's appointed time to make sure I was still alive and not stuffed in a dumpster somewhere. My other check-in time was band practice; Jasper would let Alice know I made it if she did not show up. It made Mum and Alice feel more at ease, even though I knew if I didn't show up, I was probably already dead and there was nothing they could do about it.

"Oh, Bella found this on a park bench yesterday, I believe it belongs to you?" Alice held out my pen. My eyes lit up as I snatched it back from her hands and stuffed it into my guitar case, "It looks like your clothes need to be washed to."

I nodded sheepishly while Alice went to her closet and pulled out what looked to be men's clothes in my size.

"Alice, please tell me these are not designer clothes. You know I literally got the shirt stolen off my back the last time I wore something nice."

She handed them over to me along with a towel and some shampoo, "It pains me, but I learned my lesson. These are, ugh, it hurts to even say it – _from a department store_."

I ran to the shower across the hall and took a very long shower. The warm water washing away not just the grime, but a little bit of the inadequacy I felt for being a screw-up. I hated that Alice probably thought I only visited her when I needed something. The truth was, I didn't visit her because I hated her having to see me be this fucking weak.

When I came back to Alice's flat, after scrubbing ever inch of my body, I walked in to find her packing up a satchel and talking on her mobile phone. She bounced around the room, grabbing random sketch books and tiny pieces of a fabric, shoving everything inside the bag.

"Sounds good, I want to do a preliminary fitting for dress…Yes today…How am I going to stay on schedule if we don't do it now…Of course…But there will have to be alterations…Just make sure the model is there…Ten minutes." Alice hung up her phone and turned to me, "Edward, I have to go to a fitting for one of my pieces that I am using at the Fall Fashion Show. Bella is probably not going to be back from her internship for another hour or so."

"Internship, is that what she was doing at Parliament?" I asked eager to find out some news on Bella.

"Yes she's interning there. Umm—how did you know that?" Alice turned and gave me her undivided attention for the first time since I stepped back in the room.

"Bree asked for some bodies to hold signs this morning at the protest and I saw her walk in," I shrugged looking at the ground. Alice knew who Bree was and exactly why she would ask me to be there today. Someone like me adds fuel to their crusade.

"So you didn't go there to talk to –"

"No," I cut Alice off, "I didn't even step inside the building. Do you honestly think I would go inside to see him. Bloody hell, I don't care if we are the same fucking blood, he doesn't give a crap about me!"

"Alright, alright," Alice came over and wrapped her arms around me. I realized I had started shaking after my mini outburst, "Just asking Edward. How about this, why don't you stay here and take a nap. My bed is up for grabs, and now that you don't smell I'll let you on it. Rest a little bit, maybe even go downstairs and play a little piano."

"That sounds good, thanks Alice."

"Jasper will be back from class in a couple of hours, by then I should be back from the fitting. Why don't the three of us go out for some dinner, okay?"

I nodded, and Alice gave me a kiss on the cheek before releasing me from her hug. For being such a tiny pixie, she sure knew how to placate her stupid older brother.

Alice grabbed her bag and left me alone in her flat. I went over to her bed intending to take my nap when my eyes slowly drifted over to Bella's side of the room. Whereas Alice's side was filled to the brim with crap, Bella's was uncluttered. I found myself rising from Alice's bed and walking over to Bella's bookshelf.

The only decoration she had were a few pictures unframed and sitting on the ledge. One was of her and an older man who I assumed was her father with the same brown hair and chocolate colored eyes. They were standing on the porch of a small white house and Bella was holding a large fish that she must have caught. The man was grinning ear to ear, holding a fishing pool in one hand while the other arm was wrapped around Bella. It looked like they had a loving relationship something that I used to think existed between my own father and me.

I turned to see Bella's bed was made and had the simple linens MTH provided. Before I could even stop myself, I walked over to the bed and lay down instantly smelling the sweet strawberry fragrance of Bella on the pillow. I felt like a fourteen-year-old boy grabbing that pillow and pulling it to my face imagining it was the girl of my dreams.

Just imagining it was her I drifted off into the best sleep I had in years.

* * *

A noise woke me up, it wasn't loud, but it was enough to startle me. And since I've been in the middle of some fucked up situations, it usually takes a lot more then a little tinkle to startle me.

It wasn't so much the noise as the realization that I had fallen asleep in Bella's bed that brought me back to consciousness. Alice said she would be back in about an hour. I glanced at the wall clock on her side of the room. I slept for an hour and a half.

Bella is at the door.

"Bloody hell," I muttered to myself before jumping from the bed, quickly smoothing over the covers before running to the door.

I opened the door to find Bella bending down to pick up her keys, "Thanks Alice I wanted to ask you—"

I immediately panicked and said the first thing that came to mind, "Hi Bella, I was waiting for you."

Crap, that came out sounding like I was a fucking psycho stalker who was about to lure her in before doing her in. I had to fix this situation quickly.

"Umm…Alice asked to meet me here to go out for dinner but she is running late at a… at a dress fitting!" I was full of crap, "Do you want to come with us?"

"Sure, I didn't have any plans," Bella walked past me at the door and dropped a bag off onto her desk. She sat on the edge of her bed and tore off the shoes she was wearing before rubbing her feet, "You know your sister has a wicked sense of humor forcing these death traps onto me."

"Alice is a wicked and conniving woman. I never bet against her though, she always seems to get things spot on."

"Well, she obviously does not know me well enough to understand how bad high heals are to accident prone person like me."

"So, how did she convince you to wear these," I said pointed at the midnight blue heals that looked damn fantastic on her delicate feet.

Bella looked slightly embarrassed before answering, "She—she hid all of my other shoes while I as taking a shower."

I couldn't help but laugh. Bella looked at me with an exasperated expression, and I could sympathize. When Alice put her mind toward something she became an unstoppable force of nature.

The room phone rang and Bella started to look for it. She dove under a pile of Alice's sketch books and triumphantly held it in the air when she rose from the clutter.

"Hi Alice…Sure, I can go to dinner with you and Jasper…I actually had something I wanted to ask you anyway …Where do you want to eat?...Oh, yeah. Edward's still here…Wait, you can't go to dinner now?... But half a minute ago you were good…Alright…might stay where?… Bye Alice," Bella hung up the phone and turned toward me with a confused expression.

"Sounds like Alice isn't coming back."

"It was the strangest thing, one moment she was giving me directions to a restaurant to meet her at, the next she suddenly couldn't make it. Sorry Edward, I guess your supper plans with her and Jasper are cancelled."

I was disappointed; I knew she would have treated me for dinner. It would have been nice to just hang out with her and Jasper for a bit. My hand went to my pocket and I felt the small wad of money I earned earlier at Trafalgar Square. It wasn't much, but enough for a couple meals.

"Bella, could I take you to supper? It would be my treat."

"I kind of want to stay close to MTH," Bella bit her lip and then smiled at me, "Why don't we go to the student café and I can use my meal plan. If I don't use up my extra meal points there, I'll just spend them at the bar upstairs anyways. And you've had the unfortunate experience of seeing me after a night in a pub."

I didn't want to impose on Bella, but she was already grabbing a light jacket, "Sure, sounds swell," _Swell_ Cullen? I sound like a fucking pansy. Bella must have thought so too because she giggled.

"Before we go, can you help me find where Alice hid my shoes?" We searched for about ten minutes before I found then stuffed above a ceiling tile. When Bella asked how I thought to look there I had to admit that Alice learned that trick from me. I didn't go into details on why I need to know how to hide something in the ceiling; some thing's are better left a mystery.

We walked down to the student café at ISH and started loading our trays from the À la carte line. Not wanting to impose I only grabbed a sandwich. Bella looked at it and frowned before adding a salad, some fruit, and a juice container. Before I could protest she grabbed my tray and hers and headed to the checkout line. Making me follow her to a table in the back.

"Bella, that wasn't necessary, maybe I'm not that hungry," I tried to reason with her.

"I could hear your stomach growling since we left MTH. Why can't guys just accept when girls treat," she muttered something like 'stupid chivalry' under her breath before digging into a pasta salad.

"I'm sorry Bella," there I did it again, fucking apologizing, "I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's alright Edward, I just had an interesting time at my internship this morning and I'm taking it out on you," Bella picked at her food for a moment before looking up at me through her long eyelashes, "I should be apologizing to you for acting so rude."

The look in her eyes was sincere and warm. I felt like I could trust her, I wondered if I could trust her with my secret. Quickly, I aborted that idea. I didn't want her pity and I certainly didn't want her to think I was even more of a fucking screw up.

We held a comfortable conversation; Bella asked me a lot of questions about living in London and recommendations of things she should see. I gave the usual standard responses, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and the British Museum. But then I few lesser know sites like the Imperial War Museum , the Docklands and the Lord's Mayor Parade in a couple months.

I felt relaxed around Bella, and seemed to forgive me for my sudden kissing outburst. To make me even more excited to be with her, she pulled out a slice of chocolate cake from her tray.

"I can go get you your own, but I couldn't finish it all on my own anyways," she smiled and handed me a fork.

"This is fucking perfect," I smiled as I practically inhaled every morsel. When I looked up at Bella figuring I looked like a disgusting slob, she just smiled and put down her fork, sitting back in her chair and rubbing her belly.

"I'm stuffed," Bella announced proudly. I nodded in agreement. It dawned on me that our dinner was going to be up soon and she would head back to her flat. I felt normal around Bella and I wanted to keep that illusion going, even for a little while longer. I grabbed both our trays to empty them and decided to man up for once.

"Have you been to the Rose Garden in Regent's Park yet?" Bella shook her head, "It's just a short walk away, would it be alright if we went over there?"

"Sounds nice, I don't have anything else to do today except some research for my internship. But that can wait a bit," and then Bella did me in. She bit that fucking little perfect bottom lip of hers. It took every ounce of strength I had not to ravish her there on one of those sticky café tables. I knew I was a sick masochist to begin with, taking her on a walk when I couldn't even touch her. God knows I wanted to, but I couldn't stop myself from being near her.

I led Bella out the door and toward the park. We didn't have far to walk, and I knew a little bit of my masculinity died the moment I decided to voluntarily go to a glorified flower garden. But damn it, Bella deserved to be around some fucking flowers.

We were mostly quiet on the way there, but it wasn't uncomfortable. I fought the urge to hold her hand, but figured that was going a bit far. Instead I stuffed my hands in my pocket and started humming a tune. It took a moment before I realized that a gorgeous voice accompanied me.

"Alas my love, you do me wrong/To case me off discourteously/For I have loved you well and long/Delighting in your company—" Bella's soft voice rose and fell with such tender strength.

Bella shrugged, "My mom used to sing it to me when I was little. Sometimes she would just hum it, and every once and a while she would sing the lyrics. I always thought it was beautiful, almost magical."

"Did you know that in some translations of The Canterbury Tales, green was the color of lightness in love," I said trying to pull some of my limited intelligence to the conversation. Bella mumbled something and her face flushed, "What did you say?"

"Like your eyes—your eyes are a piercing green," I blush spread across her face and I couldn't help but chuckle and smile. Bella liked my eyes. If only she knew what kind of horrific things these eyes have seen.

"Well, your voice does the song justice," the words slipped out of my mouth. Damn mental filter went out the fucking window. Seeing as I am already going to hell, I gently put my hand into Bella's. The moment our skin touched I felt a bolt of electricity fly through my body. I had never felt anything like that before. She didn't pull away; instead she secured the grip and continued to stare forward. The electricity did not go away, instead it continued on in a slow hum.

Bella and I walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the physical connection comforting. The park was filled with pedestrians, but I tuned them out and imagined us alone here. I contemplated getting us lost so we could spend more time just holding onto one and another, but the entrance to the garden came into view and Bella pulled me along.

It was the end of the flower season and everything was in bloom. The smells of the different varieties of blooms filled the air, but I was a little fucking annoyed that they were blocking out the scent of Bella. I took it upon myself to lean in a little closer to her and smell her hair.

"Did you just sniff me?" Bella tilted her head back and looked into my eyes.

"I—um —I—" Bella looked at me expectantly and all I could mutter was, "Aye."

Bella pulled me along to the next small flower section turning her attention to a yellow rose, " I shouldn't be surprised. You did taste my lips already, I suppose smelling is next. What sense are you going to use next Edward?"

"Touch," I slapped me free hand to my mouth. Bella whirled around in a frenzy and her wide eyes spoke volumes. Bloody hell, she was going to murder me with that stare. Her mouth dropped and I wanted to take it back, all of it. I wanted her to think I was a normal man and not some creep who was following her around like a puppy. I wanted her to know I cared about her—

I fucking cared about Bella.

That is no good. None of this is good. I have nothing I can offer her except baggage. It was too late anyways, by the look on her face I scared her away. She was going to tell me I was an arse. I deserved it too. Bella was too fucking perfect for a shithead like me.

"Why did you really yell as me when you were playing the piano at MTH?" That was definitely not the words I was expecting to come out of her mouth. I noticed she still had her hand in mine and she was leading us over to a bench just outside of the garden.

We sat down still hand-in-hand. I had only met this girl a few short days ago and her very presence sucked me in. I couldn't deny her anything, but to tell her the truth—I don't think could survive the letdown. After I told her, she would know what a monster I truly was and would run away from me. A few fucking days and my life turned upside down.

Bella obviously did not know anything about my past or present. Alice was always too kind to divulge that information. She usually didn't have to though, my sap story made the papers before thanks to my father's position and fame. I was the sore mark on my family's good name. But Bella, she had no idea what had been written in the British tabloids, the articles that made front-page news in the Financial Times. She would find out sooner or later seeing as she was interning in Parliament, it was probably best if the story came from me.

For the first time in a long time I felt ashamed of what I had become. Not all if it was due to my own circumstances, but much of it was a result of my own choices. I had to live with this life, but sitting next to Bella was the first time that I truly regretted every decision I had made. It was time to come clean. I turned on the bench and looked into Bella's eyes. I wanted to trust her.

"I was mad that someone heard a piece that was so personal, but that wasn't the real reason for my unreasonable outburst. Being caught down there could mean I lost my time with the piano. I didn't recognize you and thought you were one of the MTH employees."

Bella looked at me confused, "I don't understand."

"It will make more sense if I explain something to you first, please try to listen before you jump in?" Bella nodded and I took a deep breath before continuing on, "Bella, I'm homeless. I have been for almost two years now."

"But your family lives in London—" I held up a hand to silence here, "Sorry, go on."

"Yes, my family lives in London now. But I cannot live with my parents because my father and I are estranged. My Mum has me check in occasionally, but only when father is not home,

"I am technically not supposed to be at MTH, I'm not a student. But Alice was able to snatch her old roommate's key card when she left. I come in to play the piano occasionally, or take a shower. Obviously getting caught would result in losing my safety net. That day I thought if maybe I scared you away, you wouldn't think to check and see if I was enrolled student. I felt so bad about how I acted though that I tried to follow and apologize, but you were already gone."

"So if you are homeless, where do you sleep, keep your things?" I could almost feel her start to pity me, and that is something I did not want.

"The only thing I own is my guitar, which is right now sitting in your flat. Oh, and the pen that you found, thank you for that Bella. As for where I sleep, well you found me yesterday morning just after I woke up. Sometimes if the weather gets too bad, Jasper will hunt me down and force me to stay at his place."

"But what about tonight, they said we were probably going to have rain showers," Bella's concern was evident in her voice.

"Bella, it always rains. This is London. The rain doesn't bother me that much anymore. If I get really tired of it I can try and go to the local shelter and see if there are any empty beds."

"You can stay in my flat tonight."

I started to get angry, I didn't need anyone's charity, "I won't impose on my sister and you. I got into this mess, and bloody hell I will find my way out of it!" I tried to let go of her hand and move from the bench, but she held on tight. She was feisty, but I managed to pull away.

"You listen to me Edward, I told you off once and I will do it again. If you would have listened to me, you would have discovered that Alice is going to stay at Jasper's tonight and her bed is free. She said it was yours for the night, and I had no idea why she would say that until now," I stood frozen for a moment before Bella grabbed my hand again, "Now show me the rest of the fucking garden."

Bella and I walked together quietly. She would go one way or spot something in another direction, but she always pulled me with her. It was almost like she thought if we lost contact I would bolt and run away.

That was semi-true, except she had one thing I needed, my guitar. I could try and wait to get it back from Alice when Bella left the flat the next day, but there was no telling when I would be able to get it. I had never slept on the street without Mary.

If I was being honest with myself I also didn't think I could disconnect the electric current between Bella and my hands either. When I did it back at the bench it almost physically hurt me to be even an inch away from her. I had no idea what kind of fucking witchcraft she was using, but I was under its spell.

When we covered the grounds Bella led me back to MTH. We hadn't said another word since my outburst, and I knew that I should apologize. I was always fucking apologizing to Bella. As if she could feel my tension, her thumb began rubbing circles on my hand in a comforting motion. It was the most soothing touch I have felt in years. I wanted to know what was going through her mind. She was letting a homeless man sleep in the same room as her unattended. She knew nothing about me other then I was Alice's brother.

And yet she trusted me.

Her faith in me was more then I could ask for. Shit, she had no idea how much it meant to me. Trust is what had been ground into me for so long, and then to have everyone take it away, well— it broke me.

We walked without saying a single word. It was getting dark, and I hadn't realized how late it was getting. Bella silently scanned her key card, and turned her head to smile at me. All the while our hands never broke their hold. She opened the door to her flat and I couldn't help but ask her.

"Bella, are you sure you want me to stay here tonight?" Part of me wanted her to say no, to send me away. I shouldn't be anywhere near her with my problems, my past. But the greedy side of me wanted her to keep me there. Wanted her to desire my presence. I was a selfish man.

"Edward," Bella almost whispered as she finally dropped my hand. I didn't want to hear her rejection through the quiet tambour of her voice, "I trust you."

"Why?" I couldn't hold back my shock at hearing those words.

"To be honest, if you wanted to take advantage of me, you already could have," Bella took a step closer to me, "The night you carried me home from Peter's pub. I remember bits and pieces—this is so embarrassing."

I couldn't help but smirk. I remembered that night too, but I was fucking greedy and I wanted her to say it, "You remember what?"

"You're going to make me say it, aren't you," I feigned ignorance, "Fine, I remember the key incident."

That was what I was waiting for, the blush. That over the top, brighter then a rose bush, make you want to dance the fucking jig, perfect blush.

"I have never done something like that before, and you acted very much like a gentleman."

"You certainly did not make it easy for me."

"Well, I appreciate it. And I want you to have a dry place to sleep tonight. Think of it as a thank you."

I couldn't stop myself before my hand went up to her face and stroked her cheek. The small contact was enough to excite me. But I couldn't lose my control with Bella, and I quickly pulled back.

"Thank you," the whisper came out of my mouth and she smiled at me.

"I am going to go change into my night clothes in the bathroom, you might as well get comfy," Bella turned and grabbed a t-shirt and sweatpants before retreating out of the room.

I striped down to my boxer shorts, and climbed into Alice's bed. Somehow the bright pink comforter pulled me back to earth from the high of touching Bella's skin. Every piece of masculinity that I had left jumped out the window when I put my mop of hair on the butterfly pillow. I was a fucking fairy. Shit, I didn't care as long as I was in the same room as Bella.

Bella walked back into the room and I almost jumped up and pulled her into the bed with me. Even a plain old t-shirt looked regal on her body. She must have caught me starring at her because the blush came back and she darted over to her bed and under the covers. Her delicate hand reached over to the switch by her head and she turned off the room light.

"Goodnight Edward."

"Goodnight my Bella."

* * *

_The gunfire came from behind and I crouch in the corner of the room holding my ground. It is night and the faint glow of the moon let a small crack of light wash over the contents of the space._

_Two men are on the floor sprawled out. I crawl over and feel for a pulse on the first. Nothing. Coldness. The same with the second man._

_Two men that I shared a meal with just an hour before are now killed. I pull myself away and crawl back to the entranceway. There must be a way out, but the way we came in is now blocked, and the gunman came from the only other entrance._

_Loud sounds come from outside the building. Vehicles pull up on the other side of the wall. A rush of men try to enter the building. _

_The gunshots begin again and I take my chance to leave the room. I ignore the dead; there isn't anything I can do for them now. Instead I run into the corridor and pray to God that the gunman has left. I turn toward the exit and face the barrel of the same gun that has just killed. On the other end of the barrel is the shooter is what can only be thought of as a child no more then fifteen years old. He isn't a child anymore, he is a killer and he pulls back on the trigger._

_My only saving grace is that he trembles and the shot misses the main target of my body and only grazes the side. I feel the warm blood begin to depart the wound. He looks to take aim again, but before he is successful in taking down his mark, I raise my gun. Unlike him, my aim never falters._

"Edward!" How could the young man know my name?

"NO!"

"Edward wake up!" I felt small warm hands take hold of my face. My instinct told me to jump up and defend myself. But when I opened my eyes to a startled Bella I immediately tried to calm myself, "Are you alright?"

I pulled Bella close to me, of all the times I had this nightmare, this was the first time that I felt consoled. It took me a moment to realize that I was shaking and slightly breathless. Having her in my arms calmed my heart rate and brought me back to reality.

"You were screaming Edward, are you alright?"

"It was—it was a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I was relieved that Bella didn't pull back, instead she laid her head onto my shoulder.

"I am—," a monster. That was the truth, but I couldn't push Bella way. I need her there at my side, "—tired. Maybe in the morning? Right now I just need to rest."

"Okay," I could hear the skepticism in her voice as she started to stand up. Before I could stop myself I reached out for her hand.

"Will you stay with me?" The words showed my vulnerability. I never let myself so out in the open. Living on the streets a weakness like that was easily exploited. My brain wanted to stand guard, but Bella's very presence made me stay at ease and break down my calloused barrier.

Bella didn't answer out loud; instead she just nodded her head and sunk back into my grasp. I wrapped my arms around her and we laid in silence. With Bella's hair sprayed out on the butterfly pillow, I finally felt my masculinity start to charge back up.

It only took a few minutes before her body slacked and her breath steadied. My eyes followed the soft curve of her nose and the tiny freckle on her left cheek. Her soft strawberry scent filled me up so much more then the pillow from her bed from earlier when I napped on her bed. Bella in real life lying in my arms was simply perfect, her body molding perfectly into my grasp.

"Beautiful music," Bella mumbled.

"Are you still awake?" No response. Bella's eyes began to move quickly behind her lids. She was deep asleep and giving me a little peak into her subconscious.

"Edward."

Oh Bella, you cannot have me in your dreams. The only person in the world who doesn't see me as the monster I am. She is also the person that I wished would stay away from me for her own good. I should get up and walk out of the room and leave her and my sister alone for good. A noble man would leave.

But I was no noble man. I was a selfish bastard. And this selfish bastard had his arms around Bella. Bloody brilliant.

I wondered if Bella would ask me again about my nightmares in the morning. Even more then that, I wanted to know what exactly she heard me say in my sleep. The last time I stayed at Jasper's place he casually mentioned how vivid my dreams were. He was always kind in his comments, never passing judgment on me.

But when I slept at Jasper's place I never had this kind of comfort to get me threw the nightmares. Most of the time he just slept through my outbursts and I would lay away, scared shitless to fall back asleep. But here in Bella's arms I felt safe. She couldn't weigh much over a hundred pounds dripping wet, yet she was protecting a grown man from his insanity.

For the first time in years I slept and the only thing I dreamt of was lying in a bed and holding my Bella.

I guess you could call it a dream come true.


	10. Reprieve

**Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and its characters. The plot and details that lie within belong to goshdarnypooh. **

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* * *

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_Last time on Regent's Park : But when I slept at Jasper's place I never had this kind of comfort to get me threw the nightmares. Most of the time he just slept through my outbursts and I would lay awake, scared shitless to fall back asleep. But here in Bella's arms I felt safe. She couldn't weigh much over a hundred pounds dripping wet, yet she was protecting a grown man from his insanity. _

_For the first time in years I slept and the only thing I dreamt of was lying in a bed and holding my Bella. _

_I guess you could call it a dream come true._

* * *

_**Chapter 9 – Reprieve**_

**BPOV:**

The morning light broke through the worn and tattered curtains of the flat and blinded my eyes. My body moved up and down, but not on its own accord. Slowly coming out of my stupor, I realized that I was lying across Edward's chest.

His even breaths carried a rhythmic pattern and helped calm me while I recalled the events from the prior day. Every memory was punctuated with his touch and smooth voice.

I felt inexplicably drawn to him in a physical manner, something that has never happened to me before. This very moment he was really no more then a stranger to me, even after our talks from yesterday. Yet, I felt safe and secure in his grasp.

Edward appeared to be in a coma like state, and as I tried to sit up I realized he had a vice grip on me that would not break.

I truly did not plan on joining him on Alice's bed, but last night when he started to scream and whimper in his sleep, I only planned on calming him. When I laid my head on his shoulder I could feel his body relax under my weight. "Will you stay with me?" Edward had whispered in such a vulnerable voice. I couldn't deny him. In truth, it is what I wanted but was too afraid to ask for.

My eyes caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall and I groaned. As much as I wanted to stay in bed ogling over Edward, I had to get ready for my internship and afternoon class.

"Edward," I whispered into his ear. He did not move and I stroked the messy hair from his eyes and tried again, "Edward, I have to get up."

"Like bloody hell," he moaned and simply grasped me tighter. It was then that I felt something hard jabbing into my thigh. I took my hand to figure out what it was and tried to move it when I heard him growl, "Bella."

Edward's eyes were open in a flash, and they held the most menacing stare. It took me only a beat to realize what I was touching through a thin layer of cotton. My eyes went large and I felt the blush spread across my face.

"I'm—I'm so sorry. I didn't mean—," I tried to jump out of the bed and hid my embarrassment but he held his grip.

Edward muttered under his breath before sitting us both up, relaxing his hold but not letting go.

"That blush is very becoming on you," I could die with that smile of his. Without warning he pulled me into an embrace nuzzling his head into my hair.

"Did you just sniff my hair again?" As we pulled back and the look on his face was incredulous.

Then he pulled out his patented grin, "Well if you get to touch me, I get to smell you." Damn him and that grin. The blush that had started to recede came back full force.

While Edward was momentarily at ease, I jumped from his hold and headed toward my closet to pull out some clothes for my internship. Pulling out Alice's dress she gave me from the boutique, I grabbed some toiletries and turned back to Edward who was still sitting quietly on Alice's bed.

"Umm, I have to get ready for my internship this morning. I'm going to go to the bathroom, but feel free to just hang around."

Edward jumped up from the bed and it was then that I noticed he was still just in his briefs. The light bounced off his edible abs, and I wanted to go in for the buffet. Crap Bella, hold yourself together! Edward seemed to be oblivious to his state of undress as he walked over to me.

"Thank you Bella," he said in a whisper.

I was dumbstruck and distracted by his muscular shoulders, "For what?"

"For letting me stay here, talking with me yesterday, holding me last night…" His voice drifted off and I noticed how close his scantily clad body now was to me.

I wanted so desperately to ask him about his nightmares, to seek out what had frightened him to the point of screaming. It was obvious in the morning light that his haggard body had seen a great deal of pain. In this morning light I could now see the faint lines of small scars marring his perfect body, and I couldn't stop myself from reaching out and tracing the largest one that stretched across his side.

Edward pulled back in a wince, certainly not from my delicate touch of a scar long past healed. But his face looked physically pained nonetheless. I dropped my hand and took a step back while he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I have to get ready," I quickly ran from the room and to the bathroom. I turned the shower on and let the scalding water hit my skin. It felt good to focus on the slight pain that started to take away the tension in my muscles. As the water pounded my flesh, I quickly realized that being around Edward was complicated.

More then complicated, he was pure confusion. The man yells at me, kisses me, takes me for a walk in the park, freaks the hell out of me screaming in the night, and then pulls me into his bed. While he is practically naked. On top of it all he admits that he is homeless.

The idea of him being homeless seems absolutely out of place to me. I've met his siblings and his mom, and it doesn't seem like they would just throw him to the curb. Something was there, something that none of them wanted to tell me. Obviously I didn't expect that someone like Esme to come out and say, "Oh by the way, my dashingly handsome son lives on the streets," but a little forewarning would have been nice.

My skin began to prune, and I dried myself off and dressed for the day. As much as I hated to admit it, Alice's design looked fantastic on me. With this new haircut and form fitting clothing I felt almost…_chic._

I walked back to my empty room. Edward didn't leave a note, but his clothes were gone, along with his precious guitar, Mary. It should not surprise me; after all I freaked the guy out with the stares.

I gathered my satchel and filled it with my textbook for my afternoon class and threw in a couple of granola bars for breakfast before heading out of my room. I was just to leave when I noticed Edward's pen on my bed. It had not been there last night, and I was not sure why Edward would leave it there this morning. I carefully took it and placed it on my shelf before heading out the door to the Tube station.

* * *

When I arrived to Westminster I passed the protesters outside once again. I looked up and down the group but could not spot Riley and figured I would check again when my hours were finished. I had picked up a little sandwich at ISH for him in thanks for talking with the other day and was hoping to drop it off.

Victoria greeted me in the office once again, although greeting was a rather loose term. She looked up and smirked as I made my way to my make-shaft desk in the corner. I pulled out my notes for the opposition paper, as well as the comments I had written down from Riley and started in on my work blocking her and every other distraction in the office.

It was hard putting a voice to the idea that the British government should not provide financial assistance to the homeless. The very notion was contrary to the giving philosophy Renee instilled in me. I recalled a time when I was seven years old and she had brought me to the local soup kitchen over for Thanksgiving. At the time I did not understand what was so different about these people then anyone else I knew.

There was one lady in particular who had the most gorgeous grey hair in natural curls down her back. She wore a tattered jean jacket with colorful patches. I thought it was beautiful, and tugged on my mom's shirt to get her attention. Pointing at the grey haired lady I remember whispering, "Can I get a jacket like that lady, she is pretty."

The grey haired lady overheard me and walked over to us. She knelt down and asked my name.

"Well Isabella, a pretty girl like you should have a pretty jacket," she took it from her shoulders and handed it to me.

My mother shook her head, "This is very kind, but we cannot accept this."

"Nonsense, I so rarely get to gifts. Giving Isabella this coat makes me happy."

Back in Forks, Washington that ragged coat with the patches is still hanging in my closet. I still think it is beautiful.

Despite the counterintuitive nature of the arguments I was writing, I understood the purpose of my product. Only the thought that these arguments would create a stronger offence kept me focused on the task at hand.

For over two hours I put together what I thought was a well-constructed argument against funding homeless initiatives when my mind began to wander to what Emmitt had said the day before.

I wished he would have just come out and told me what his peeve with James was. The cryptic message in the hallway was a bit too James Bond to me. Next thing I know, Emmitt would be pulling up the front of Westminster sitting behind the same Aston Martin Vanquish from 'Die Another Day'. He would have to be rather full of himself to drive around town in something so ostentatious—I hoped that wasn't the case.

I was beginning to wonder if the entire Cullen family was for real. I mean, their parents owned a lavish London townhouse, their daughter was in the makings to becoming a major fashion designer, one son was practicing law in Parliament, and the other son – _well, he had a story all his own_. My life certainly looked rather mundane in comparison.

Snapping out of my thoughts I looked back at the draft in front of me. I really wished I had more time to have some more time to talk with Riley. I realized how difficult it was to write a paper on a policy that I was not familiar with.

"Ah Bella, how is your first project coming along?" James sudden appearance caused me to jump in my seat, "I am deeply sorry, I did not mean to startle you."

"It's alright. I have my rough draft completed," I sent the document to the printer behind me and quickly handed it over to James.

He looked it over for a minute making slight noises as has he skimmed the page. Victoria glanced up from her desk for a moment catching my eye with a half smirk which quickly fell when she heard, "This is quite good Bella. First try at one of these you say," I nodded in affirmation, "Well you are a natural then. Email this around to the staff before you leave and we will assign someone to work on the counter arguments. Really well done."

"Thank you," I whispered, slightly in shock at his praise. I could not help but notice the pained grimace on Victoria's face. Take that bi-otch!

For the rest of the morning Victoria assigned me mostly busy work answering constituent. I am fairly certain it was her way of letting me know who was the head lackey in the office. Fine paperclip queen, I hear you loud and clear. You are head of office supply land, but I don't expect me to bow down to you anytime soon.

* * *

My afternoon class almost put me to sleep. Thankfully Mike beat me to the punch and we were all treated to a British professor rant about lazy Americans. Then he proceeded to continue his lecture in the same monotonous tone sending Angela to sleep. When her soft snores carried across the room or professor finally called it quits for the day.

I arrived back at my flat and found a very anxious Alice waiting on her bed. She jumped to her feet as soon as I entered the room and practically jumped into my arms.

"Did Edward say here last night?"

"Yes, he stayed."

Alice squealed and jumped on her bed where some commenced jumping, "Ever since he came back I have never been able to get him to sleep inside. I could kiss you Bells!"

"Hold back your excitement little pixie. Why didn't you tell me about your brother?"

"It's not more story to tell," she said, "Anyways, I understand that my other brother has requested your presence at dinner this Saturday."

"More like demanded," I set down my bag, "I was going to ask you something last night before you ditched me. Do you know why Emmitt has such a big beef with James Damon?"

"If by 'beef' you mean problem, yes I do know why Emmitt does not like him. My father also does like Damon. Not a member of the entire family likes that prick."

"Why? I mean, he is working on some projects that I whole heartily agree with. Sure he feels a little sleazy, but aren't all politicians."

"I don't think all politicians are dishonest. Emmitt knows more Damon then I do, it's a little complicated and he can probably answer your questions better. All I can say right now is to watch your back," Alice walked over and eyed me up and down, "Oh, and you look good in my dress. I'm going to dress you more often."

I just shook my head and pulled out some comfortable clothes to change into. My jeans felt comfortable and my t-shirt was divine. I did notice that Alice gave me a painful stare when I put on my favorite pair of sneakers.

I thought I heard her mutter, "Didn't hide them hard enough."

Pulling my books out I began to take notes for my class the next day. Images of artifacts from Roman occupied Britain littered the pages. It did not take long for my eyes to roll back and I was about to fall asleep.

The phone rang destroying any chance I had of falling asleep. Alice picked it up and began mumbling responses.

"We'll be there," she hung up and yelled, "Time to get up Bella!"

"No thanks, I'm not hungry and I just want to go to bed."

"Oh Bella, you think you have an option. Up you go!" Alice put both hands around my arm and pulled me up easily. I have no idea where that girl finds her strength but she lifts weights like an ant. I would not bet against her in a wrestling match with Emmitt.

"Where are you taking me Alice?"

"Band practice!" She pulled me up and looked me up and down, "Could I improve your outfit a little bit?"

"Absolutely not, I have been waiting all day for my comfy jeans."

"Umph," Alice touched my hair, "Well, at least let me…" and with no approval from me she pulled my hair back into a high ponytail with a hair band conveniently wrapped around her wrist. She whipped out a mascara wand from the back pocket of her jeans and attacked my eyes.

"What are you, a walking cosmetic bag?" I scrunched my eyes and tried to walk away, but Alice had already applied a coat of lip-gloss to my face.

"That will have to do," Alice nodded in satisfaction and grabbed her purse, "Let's go."

Alice was half way out the building when I finally caught up with her. I observed for the first time when she walked that she had a happy skip in her step. Something good must have happened to her yesterday to put her in such a chipper mood.

"Alice, wait up!" she stopped for just a moment while I caught up and found my breath, "Why do I have to go anyway."

"All I know is that Jasper requested that you be present at the practice and that I deliver you to them."

"This sounds like a hostage situation to me."

"Oh, you Americans always going for the dramatics. Come along."

Alice and I walked the short distance to the Royal Music Conservatory. We entered through the same doors as the last time and walked down the now familiar hallway. Just as the last time, music filtered from the practice rooms and small nooks where the talented musicians practiced in whatever space was available.

The mixture of all the strands of music was almost numbing. Different tempos, clashing keys, even the uneven syncopation of beats began to overwhelm my ears. It was not until we reached the door of the boys' band rehearsal where I was able to focus on one single strand of music and focus again.

Edward stood on stage holding his Mary and strumming against her with precision. Jasper was in the back on drums holding a soft, yet steady beat. There was nothing rushed about their performance, simply the relaxed banter of instruments speaking in harmony with one and another. The breath I had been holding in since I entered the building slowly released itself and I was at ease.

Alice pulled me to the front of the theatre and sat in the same location as last time. My anger last time prevented me from truly appreciating the beauty of what was happening on stage. Right now I could see the subtle manner in which Edward strummed the strings and how he would bite his lower lip when he was particularly concentrating. Or the way he leaned his weight into his left foot and scrunch his eyes shut when he needed to hear the chord progressions.

When I set aside all of the anger from the first time I heard him play, and all of the nervousness from the second time in the pub and I listened, really listened, I finally felt like I understood the essence of Edward Cullen.

I could hear the slight lack of self-confidence in him when he would try to improvise leaving some notes to come in slightly delayed. I heard the pain when the vibrato of his voice would falter on the low long notes. I felt the sadness when his hands would dip into the minor chords when he improvised.

The mystique of Edward was never really hidden from me, it was that he was waiting for it to come out in the only way he knew how to express it. In my head I could not comprehend how someone so talented was not out on stage every night performing like he was destined to do.

Alice and I sat back in our seats and did not even whisper to each other. I think she realized I needed time to process what was in front of me, unlike before when I jumped to conclusions.

The band finished the song and Jasper called for a break. He and Edward bounced off the stage to the seats. The other guys yelled that they were heading out for a smoke break and left out a side door.

"How did you girls like that?" Jasper asked with an expectant grin on his face.

"It was alright," Alice sauntered over to him before throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"Just alright? Bloody hell, I write a love song for you woman and you practically stab my heart!" Jasper feigned annoyance.

"Really, that was the one!" Alice began smothering his face with kisses, "Oh Jazz it was perfect."

Edward and I looked on as the couple continued to increase their affection toward one and another.

"Want to go outside for a few minutes?" Edward asked me.

"Yeah, I can only handle so much of that," I waved my hands around at Jasper and Alice.

Edward pulled me out the back door of the small auditorium and to an exit right by the side bypassing many of the practice rooms. He walked to a small set of trees and pulled out a cigarette, "Do you mind?"

"They're your lungs, its not like you use them for anything—you know—_like singing."_

He just nodded and proceeded to pull out his lighter but did not light his cigarette. His fingers were fidgety and his eyes shifted around nervously.

"Bella, I told Jasper that I needed to talk to you. That's why he asked Alice to bring you here tonight."

"Okay…well, what do you want to talk about?"

"I didn't tell you my entire story last night. I left some things out, I'd be a right fool if I came out with everything to a woman I just met," Edward took a step toward me, "I need to ask you a favor, but I need to tell you a little more about my past first."

"Alright," I said hesitantly. Edward was racking his hand through his hair, and he was starting to make me anxious.

"When I graduated from secondary school my father wanted to push me into medicine. It was a family tradition, and Emmitt had already decided on law. Alice, well Alice was always more of a creative soul growing up. That left me to carry on the legacy,

"I was never really interested in becoming a doctor. Since I was eight years old I wanted to become a musician, travel the world and sing my songs. I applied to the Royal Music Academy and was admitted. I also applied to medical school. Although my dream was to be here, my father's guilt pushed me to become a doctor.

"A year into the program, I had a few personal issues. The pressure became too much and I truly only wanted to be making music. I just wanted to get away from it all. Without telling my family, I quit school and went abroad for a year and a half.

"When I came home there were—_some complications_. My father was upset with both my decision, to quit school and go abroad. I was angry as well for his vocal opposition to me leaving. There was no way I could stay at his home, and by then Emmitt had already moved out and Alice was here. I had no money, no place to live, and a huge chip on my shoulders.

"But now—now I want to go back to school. I want to apply to the Royal Music Academy. The only thing that I have to submit still is one original composition."

I watched on as Edward put his left hand to the bark. His nervous hands shook as he walked around the tree always keeping his hand in contact of the ruff surface. The way he moved it looked like he was paying homage to the young sycamore tree. He completed his circle and walked toward me.

"That is why I need to ask you a favor. The composition I wrote is a duet for male and female voices. Every time I play it, I hear your voice as the harmony line."

Not it was my turn to become nervous. There was no way that I could perform his school admission piece. Inside the building beside me were some of the most talented musicians in the world, and I could not stand in comparison.

"Edward, I am not a singer, despite my ill fated attempts at karaoke. This, _this_ is your future, I cannot be responsible for messing up your chances of getting in."

Edward took another step closer and put his hand on my cheek, the contact made my body tingle and I could see the black of his emerald eyes darken.

"Tell me you don't feel that Bella, tell me you do not feel this connection?" His hand moved to tangle itself in my hair while my body remained frozen in place, "Because I can and I have never felt this bond between anyone in my life."

"You're frightening me," I whispered. Of course I felt it, but to know he did too was overwhelming.

Edward's face came dangerously close to my own, while his free hand wove around to the small of my back to bring me closer. The fire in his eyes was overwhelming, and I feared that my own had a matching intensity. A week, a damn week is all I had been in London and all it took for me to fall for this strangely irritating yet utterly lovely man.

His lips found mine while my heart beat wildly. Subconsciously my hands that were frozen at my side began to move up his chest where I grabbed the fabric and pulled him closer. Hungrily his tongue licked my lips and I opened up to feel it warm my mouth. Nothing tasted as good as Edward.

My leg hitched itself around his thigh, and in this moment I forgot that we were in a public place where a pedestrian could walk by at any moment and find me groping this handsome man. It appeared that Edward had forgotten his inhibitions as well, or perhaps he was more practiced at blocking out everything that surrounded him. His arm began to rub up and down my back before running down the length of my body to my hitched leg. Even through the thin cotton of my clothes I could feel the reverence in which he touched me.

We broke our kiss as I gasped wildly for air. Edward stroked my face once again, but made sure my leg was still hitched around his waste. A smile crossed his swollen lips.

"That connection is the only one that will make my composition acceptable. The admittance jury will know I am merely performing if anyone but you at my side. But with you Bella, _with you_ they will know it is genuinely from the heart. I don't think I would have the courage to do this with anyone else."

What little breath I regained was quickly knocked back out of me by his admission. Edward survived on the streets. I honestly could not imagine him ever faltering for courage. Yet, here he was admitting that he needed me to perform. It was part enduring, and part nerve-racking that he felt the same strong connection.

I wanted to tell Edward that I would consider his request. That I needed some time to think things over, especially with my busy class schedule. I did not know when I would have time to practice and learn an original piece from scratch. I wanted to give a diplomatic response, but the moment I looked up at him my usually strong resolve faltered.

"I'll try," and I realized I would. I certainly could not boast the best voice, but if my being there made him comfortable then it would be worth the risk of my failure. Because in the end the possibility of Edward finding his way again in the world was too beautiful of an opportunity to pass up.

The idea of being on the receiving side of such perfect kisses may also have crossed my mind. As if he heard my thoughts, Edward lowered his lips once again, this time in a much gentler fashion floating small kisses around the corner of my mouth.

"_Beautiful,_" he whispered under his breath as his nose rubbed up and down my jaw line, "Let's get you inside, it's going to downpour any moment."

I had been too busy being charmed by Edward to even realize it had begun to lightly sprinkle. Small water droplets had already gathered in my and his hair. If I had a little less decorum, I would have licked one of the drops that sat on the tips of his chestnut tresses. It was almost frightening the power this man had over my body.

He led me back inside the auditorium where the band was gathering back together to continue with the rehearsal. Edward bounded onto stage and I went to sit next to Alice.

It was like night and day seeing him on this stage. Here he was confident and commanded the stage. But I could not help but think that the man I had seen outside was closer to the true Edward. At his very core he was slightly insecure and not altogether sure of himself. I wanted to make music with that Edward.

"What were you doing with my brother out there," Alice whispered.

"He is applying to the Royal Music Academy, and he wants me to help sing his admission piece."

Alice began to squeal and clap loudly. The boys on stage turned to glare at her, but she ignored them, "Oh Bella, I have been trying to persuade him to do this for ages! Now he is finally going to give it a go. This is brilliant news, and I know just what changed his mind!"

Edward and his band mates ignored Alice's exuberance and continued on with their set list. The tempo slowed down and I recognized the song as the one Edward played at the pub in Sheppard's Bush, 'Holding on'. While I preferred the piece with just Edward and his acoustic guitar, the full band arrangement was really spectacular. I could almost envision it as a single off an album.

There Alice and I sat watching the band finish their rehearsal working through two more songs. They were packing up for the evening when the little pixie went up to her brother and asked him to stay the night in our flat because the forecast looked like rain. He refused. I could see disappoint and worry in her face.

"Please Edward, stay with us. If she doesn't dress you up in the morning, then I have to suffer through it," I put my hand gently on his arm, "Plus, it looks like you left your pen behind again."

For the second night in a row Edward and I slept in the same bed. Alice did not even bat an eye when I opened my blanket to let him in. In fact, she looked rather smug. For the second night in a row the nightmares I had been plagued with for weeks never made an appearance, and Edward seemed to sleep just as peacefully as me. Everything was peaceful.

Until Saturday when my world started to slowly crash down.


End file.
